Same Old
by EnigmaMemory
Summary: Though everyone was in college, people just don't seem to change. "Seem", anyways
1. Chapter 1

**K, I'm just trying something new here, please read and review, cause I don't want my editor to yell at me so often.**

**I do not own the Prince of Tennis. I do want to learn how to play crack tennis, though.**

###

The airport was bustling as always, cars streaming to and away from the lane as people rushed, hauling off their luggage so that they wouldn't be hit by the horde of cars moving about everywhere. The traffic situation was worse than that which one could find from a construction project and a car accident combined. For the taxi drivers and car services, it was especially infuriating, since they had to shuffle into the mess and move towards the sidewalk edge to gather potential customers, then somehow claw their way back out of the disaster.

One of these said car services drivers was already stuck in the sea of honking machines, waiting not for any potential customers, but a friend. It wasn't as if the company cared, as long as overtime was done later.

When would her friend get here? She wanted to get out of hell.

For the umpteenth time, she thought of how she ended up with her job, and sighed.

_It was Tomoka-chan's fault, as always._

She remembered the fateful day when Tomoka decided that her friend needed to 'stand up for herself and make her own path' before dragging her to the nearest building, which ended up being the office of the car service building.

Apparently, they had needed another driver very badly, and when Tomoka mentioned that her friend could drive very well, they had hired her immediately. Next thing she knew, she was studying the maps of Tokyo, preparing for her new job.

"I should've known that she was planning something when she said 'Sakuno-chan' in _that_ voice," she muttered as her eyes continued to idly rove about; anticipating the phone call was a thankless task. "Well, it's not a bad job, I guess… It _has_ improved my sense of direction … God, it was crappy before…"

She'd sworn again without her noticing. _That's not something I would do!_

Tomoka was the one who had introduced her to such bad habits. "Oh, Tomoka-chan, why must you tie me to such insanity…?"

Tomoka's voice echoed in her head. _Well, you did say you wanted to pay for college without too much help from your Obaa-san, right?_

Sighing, Sakuno rested her head on the steering wheel. She did need the money if she didn't want to rely too heavily on her grandmother.

After all, Obaa-san had supported her for all these years; who would she be to burden Obaa-san any longer?

Her cellphone rang then, and with haste she withdrew it from her pocket.

_Without dropping it,_ she noted idly. _I'm not so clumsy anymore either…_

Her ponytail brushed against her hand and for a moment she regarded her mane of cinnamon sadly.

_Yes, quite a bit has changed since he left, but now's not the time to think about that. It was over a long time ago, and I need to take this call._

Flipping her red cellphone open with ease, Sakuno saw that the call was from her friend.

"Momo-sempai, how are you?"

"Ah, Sakuno-chan! I'm sorry, but apparently, An's brother came to pick us up, even though I insisted that I already got you to pick us up instead. I guess Tachibana still doesn't trust me…heh heh."

Sakuno gave an amused shake of her head as she imagined her sempai scratching his head sheepishly, as he must have been.

"Anyways, An and I are sorry for dragging you along for no reason, so…" Sakuno suddenly heard a bunch of incoherent whispering in the phone, and what sounded like an evil laugh.

"Actually, Ann just reminded me that somebody on the plane was interested in taking our spot for us, so we'll just lead him to your car before leaving ourselves. Is that alright with you?"

Sakuno thought about for a moment. _Well, since I really did come here for nothing, I might as well get a customer out of it._ "Sure, Momo-sempai."

"Thank you, Sakuno-chan! We're coming right now." The next thing Sakuno heard was the sound of the dial tone, signaling that Momo had hung up.

Sakuno readjusted herself in her seat as she patiently waited for her friends to arrive. Sure enough, there was a tap at the window – when she turned, she was welcomed by the sight of Momo and An with luggage in tow followed by a lone man who only carried a backpack with him.

Sakuno studied the man she had promised to drive. He was tall, but not as tall as Momo, and his face was obscured by a red cap that did not block sight of his black hair. Clad in a silver grayish coat with red stripes running across the chest, Sakuno beheld him with horror and squashed down the thoughts that were coming to her mind – but alas, to no avail.

_Silver and red were his favourite colors._

Shaken, Sakuno continued her inspection, and found herself in need of squashing the thoughts she had when she noticed that the person carried a tennis bag along with the backpack.

_I guess he looks safe enough, but I have to keep my guard. He still might try to mug me… or worse._

"Hey, Sakuno-chan. This person is going to take your car, okay?" Momo peered through the window almost anxiously as if he was worried about her reaction.

She nodded with a smile. "It's alright. I'll send this person. Good luck with An-chan's brother!"

Momo cringed at the thought. "Thanks, Sakuno-chan. See ya."

Momo and An left then, though Sakuno could hear An's voice scolding Momo even at a distance. "Momo, don't go around making her scared of nii-san…"

"So, where do you want to go?" she asked in her best business voice as the person climbed into the car quietly.

"The tennis shop near Seishun," he responded smoothly, setting his stuff down on the seat next to him.

Sakuno nodded. She knew where that was very well, especially since she had went there with…

_Oh, stop thinking about him, damn it! What's gotten into you today?_

###

Momo and An stopped as they watched the car begin to somehow snake itself through the clogged traffic.

As a siren blared, An began, voice soft, "It's hard to imagine Sakuno-chan as a driver… she doesn't seem that type."

"Hey, people change a bit sometimes. They do things that might not seem to suit them," Momo replied dismissively. "Besides, it certainly helped with this very nice… ah, opportunity. Though I hope this never reaches your brother; I'd rather save him the confusion he's certainly going to get."

"No shit. Why must you use my brother of all people as an excuse?" An huffed, and, folding her arms over her chest crossly, she turned her pouting face from Momo.

"Hey, it was all I could think of!" Momo protested. "It's not like Sakuno-chan is a simpleton. She knows when something's wrong."

"But you didn't have to - "

An was cut off when Momo shouted in greeting as he spotted a redhead jumping erratically in the middle of the sea of cars, apparently not caring about the possible attempts on his life.

"Hey, Kikumaru-sempai!"

"Momo! You're here! How did it go with O'Chibi?" Eiji Kikumaru bounded over to the two arrivals, vaulting and flipping over cars with little difficulty while the people inside stared at him in awe and puzzlement.

"Still hyper as ever, aren't you, sempai?" Momo chuckled as Eiji took the luggage with each hand and hauled them back into the sea of cars, twisting and spinning through the narrow gaps with no problem.

"Hoy, hoy! It just feels good to see you and An-chan again, nya!" Eiji replied as he reached a car and opened the back of its trunk, quickly stuffing the luggage inside it before clamping the cover down over it.

"Come on, Momo, An-chan, we have to hurry and follow Sakuno-chan's car, nya!" Eiji exclaimed happily as he opened the passenger door and ushered them in before.

Momo facepalmed as he saw the other two passengers in this car. "Of course the two of you would also be in on this," he muttered as the person in the front passenger seat turned his head, the light reflecting off the square lenses of his glasses.

"Well, it's always a good idea to get data," the passenger noted softly as he began scribbling in his notebook. "Chances of an outburst coming from the victim later…? 100%... Ii data…"

"Inui-sempai, we didn't need any data to be able to figure that out. And who the heck made Fuji-sempai the driver?" Mom exclaimed exasperatedly as Eiji climbed into the car as well, quickly closing the door.

"Fuji, after them, quick! Nya!" The redhead exclaimed as he waved his arms around, squashing Momo and An into a corner.

"Don't worry, I'm already on it," Fuji said as the car started moving out of the mess, Sakuno's black service car clearly in his sights. "Momo, exactly what is so scary about me driving?"

"It's because we almost die at least fifteen times every time you drive, sempai, and you seem to enjoy that!" Momo exclaimed just as the car lurched suddenly, stopping only millimeters away from the back of another car. "See? We've barely started and you almost killed us all!"

"Relax! A crash at that speed would only end up with a meeting in court concerning damage costs. If that should happen, you'll be paying the cost, right, Momo?" Fuji grinned sadistically.

Momo gulped, knowing that he should run, and run far.

But he was sitting in a car, so there really was nowhere to run. An was looking at him curiously, trying to find out what exactly was making him so agitated as he fished around his seat, looking for something.

"At least we have seat belts, right?"

Fuji's smile widened. "There were… until I tampered with them."

Momo slammed his head into the seat in front of him in despair as An stared at him in confusion. "Momo, what's wrong? It's not like we need seat belts…"

"Trust me, you'll be eating your words once we're done with this," Momo moaned.

Eiji, undaunted, passed Momo an empty shopping bag.

"Thanks, Kikumaru-sempai. I'm going to need that."

###

Sakuno's eyes were trained on the road before her, brown in a composed face that belied her inner anxieties.

Only her unsteady eyes betrayed her as she continued to alternate between staring at the rearview mirror and her strange passenger.

He was looking down at his feet as he sat, though all his stuff was strewn haphazardly to his left. A tell-tale white wire around his neck signaled that he had taken out an MP3 player to tune out the world.

Still, that wasn't going to stop her from starting a conversation. It might not have been quiet to him but it was sure as hell quiet to her, and she needed to do something about that silence.

"So… you play tennis?" she asked hesitantly, awkwardly, wondering if she would get an answer back.

The stranger didn't reply and silence filled the car again.

It was just that as Sakuno gave up on an answer he responded.

**"Yeah."**

Sakuno's eyes flicked back to the rearview mirror in surprise. _So he can speak…and in English, no less. Well, Momo-semapi and An-chan did come back from America, so it's understandable that they met someone who can speak English._

It wasn't at all a problem. Sakuno was learning English in her free time, so she was actually rather proficient. She had gone a long way from her pathetic knowledge back in middle school.

_And I had him tutor me for help… no, don't think about him! He's not coming back…he's not coming back. _

**"Are you any good?"**

She swore he smirked. **"Are you?"**

**"Well**…** I play, but I'm not very good. I'm a little clumsy,"** she replied hesitantly, attempting to contain the memories that were flowing in her head again.

_He seems to be pretty good at filling my head with depressing thoughts…_

The passenger chuckled.

"**That's alright, I only play tennis as a hobby, anyways. I brought my racket with me because I promised my friends and family that I would play tennis with them while I am here."**

**"So your family plays tennis too?"**

**"My dad does, at the very least. I haven't beaten him yet, but I'm sure to do so this time."**

_Oh, why must this person remind me so much of him…? Ugh!_

**"Good luck with that."**

**"Thanks."**

Silence settled into the car yet again, but this time, it wasn't so depressing. It was warm and comfortable, but Sakuno was too busy focusing on driving to really think about it.

###

An old man was lying on his usual spot on the couch, reading his usual scandalously lewd magazines that he certainly did not want his wife to know about (though they both knew she did already) when he suddenly erupted into a loud fit of sneezing.

"Hm, I wonder who's been mentioning me. It must be the brat… he _is_ coming back today. I wonder if he got a girlfriend yet…" He chuckled. "Ah, I shouldn't worry about that. His sempais will take care of that problem for me."

With that in mind, he went back to reading his magazines, oblivious to the eyes glaring at his back as the eyes began stalking towards him.

###

Sakuno had just drove into the city when she heard a mewing behind her.

**"Shh, Snowball… we're almost there…"**

_He even has a cat… _Sakuno squeezed her eyes shut, trying hard not to be overwhelmed by the thoughts poking through the defenses in her mind. In hindsight, that was probably not the best thing she could've done.

When she opened her eyes again, she realized that she did not recognize what she saw. Glancing around in confusion, Sakuno fought the rising wave of panic inside her, trying to look as level headed as possible on the outside. There was no need to worry the customer, after all.

_Well, maybe I'll figure out where I am on the next right…_ Sakuno was met with another bustling street, looking to her almost identical to the one she was just on. _Or not. Alright, the next left._

Still nothing, and Sakuno was rapidly losing her cool. _Um…perhaps left again?_ And so on, for the next fifteen minutes.

**"You're lost, aren't you?"**

Sakuno gulped. Apparently her customer figured her out anyways. _Well…I guess I can kiss a good payment goodbye, huh?_

**"Yes…I'm very so - "**

The stranger just sighed as Sakuno watched him pull down his hat over his face even further in exasperation. **"Take the next left…"**

With that, to Sakuno's extreme embarrassment, the stranger directed her right in front of the said tennis shop. Now that she got there, Sakuno was unsure how she forgot there. Again, it was one of those places she couldn't forget, no matter how much she wanted to.

_I'm glad this is all over. That guy's presence is causing me too much grief. _Sakuno thought grimly as the stranger began gathering up her stuff in the back. He handed a wad of cash to Sakuno without a word as he opened the door and stepped out of the car, quietly shutting it behind him.

Sakuno made to drive off, but she was stopped by a tap on the window. She looked out, puzzled, wondering why would the stranger bother talking to her anymore, and was met with a rather strange sight.

He had taken his red cap off and was holding it in his right hand, revealing that his hair, was in actuality, a dark green color. His piercing green eyes gorged into Sakuno's as her mind practically blew apart from the speed at which she was thinking.

_No way no way nowaynowaynoway. NO WAY._

"Oi, Ryuzaki, looks like you've improved your English," the stranger said, and smirked. "Too bad your sense of direction hasn't gotten better, though."

He backed away from the car window and turned back to the tennis shop, walking smoothly into the shop as Sakuno just looked at his back, dumbfounded. He stopped at the door, one hand propping it open as he shot a glance at her.

"Mada mada dane." His smirk just grew wider as the door closed behind him.

Sakuno was in shock as she stared at the closed door of the tennis shop. _…that wasn't him. It can't be. He's not supposed to be in Japan anymore…_

_Ah, but he WAS there, standing right in front of you, giving his trademark smirk and saying that stupid phrase that makes you want to smack him over the head every time he utters it._

_Mou, don't give me such violent thoughts, other me…_

Her hands were still shaking as she made to put away the wad of money in her hands, quickly counting them to see exactly how much he gave. _Mou, why did he have to give me everything in American dollars…?_

She paused in her counting as a slip of paper fell out of the pile of cash she was holding. Sakuno wondered why she didn't notice it beforehand; the paper was rather thick due to the fact that it had been folded several times. Picking the slip off the floor, she unfolded and read its contents.

Her shock was quickly replaced by anger as she read, her face a red balloon by the time she read the last sentence. She scrunched up the note into a ball before opening the passenger window and hurling it at the window of the tennis shop, shouting out a phrase she hadn't uttered in the last six years.

"Mou, Ryoma-kun!"

###

Ryoma smirked as he heard the muffled outburst from outside the window, noting out of the corner of his eye the paper ball that was thrown right at it. The store owner noticed the yelling as well as he looked at the window in surprise, wondering exactly had happen outside.

"What the heck is that lady doing, throwing something at the window of my store?" the owner yelled as he began to move from behind the cashier counter. "…oh, wait, it was just a paper ball. But still!"

Huffing and muttering, he began to tally up Ryoma's order. As he looked up to give Ryoma the price of the objects he ordered, he could not help himself.

"Um…why are you looking like at?"

Ryoma realized that his face was still contorted in a rather silly smirking expression as he quickly reverted back to his normal, neutral looking face. "Oh, nothing. It's nothing at all," he murmured, and paid.

The store owner, silent and unconvinced, gave Ryoma a receipt.

###

Fuji had been stalking Sakuno's car the whole time, expertly weaving in and out of cars to keep her within his sights. Perhaps too expertly.

"My fucking god, Fuji-sempai, that's the seventeenth time we almost crashed into the back of a car!" Momo hollered as his face bounced back from the head cushion of the seat in front of him. An only sighed as Momo belched and quickly put the now not so empty shopping bag in front of his mouth.

"Why do I have such a pathetic loser for a boyfriend? I really wonder sometimes…" she muttered as Momo vomited into the bag.

"Hey, shut it, woman! Or I'll dump this bag on top of your head." Momo snapped back as Fuji drifted through a narrow gap between two lanes. "And sempai, what the hell was that for?"

"Calm down, Momo. I know you're enjoying the ride," Fuji managed through his maniacally sadistic smile.

Meanwhile, An was busy trying to fix a headlock on Momo, who was, to his credit, was struggling very hard not to be choked by a girl, because that would be just embarrassing.

"Get off me, woman!" Momo grunted as he continued to hold back An's arm from wrapping itself around his neck.

"No way! Not after you threatened to pour your vomit over me," An retorted as she pulled Momo closer by the ear so she could attempt to get a better hold on him.

"Well, that's because you called me pathetic -"

"The sex must be nice, huh?" Fuji interrupted as he drove right past a yellow light at a terrifying speed.

"Wait, what?" Momo and An stopped their struggle and looked at the back of the driver's seat as Eiji, who actually haven't been doing much besides staring out the window like a cat, started laughing hysterically.

"Shut up, sempai!" Momo grumbled as he smacked the back of Eiji's head, with absolutely no effect.

"Well, the chance of you already having intercourse with An-chan is, according to your behaviors just now, 97%," Inui muttered as he flipped to the page he kept Momo's data and jotted the observation down.

"What the hell, Inui-sempai, don't write something like that in there!" Momo shouted frantically.

"That just became 99%. Thank you, Momo," Inui continued, ignoring Momo's protests.

"Saa, so you mean you did do it with her already, right Momo?" Fuji continued, unperturbed as Momo made a sound that was reminiscent of someone getting strangled. "Say, An-chan, why don't you answer that question for me? Did you and Momo do it already?"

"Well, we, um, uh…"

"Did he please you?"

"92% chance that he did and An-chan just doesn't want to admit it…"

Both of their heads lurched forward then as their head cushions were hit with tremendous force. "SHUT UP!" Momo and An yelled, both red in the face and refusing to meet each other's gaze. Meanwhile, Eiji had tears in his eyes as he laid back on his seat, still laughing.

"Really, though, Momo. It's nothing to be embarrassed about; you should be proud!" Eiji choked through his tears before continuing his laughter.

Momo picked up a mouse plushie from behind the seat and threw it into Eiji's mouth, shutting him up completely.

"Alright, where are we?" He demanded as he ignored Eiji's silent protests as he tried to spit the mouse out of his mouth.

"We're near Seigaku, but I think Sakuno got lost." Fuji replied as he swerved dangerously close to other cars, making Mom's face green yet again.

"Huh, Sakuno-chan really has a habit of getting lost in this place," An noted as they followed Sakuno around in circles.

"Maybe Echizen already told her who was sitting in her backseat, and she got so flustered that she got lost here."

"Doubtful. There's an 87% chance that Sakuno-chan would've called us to yell at us for our prank. Well, call you, anyways, Momo. There is no need for her to know of our involvement." Inui said as he continued to flip the pages in his data book.

"Oh, look, we're finally not going in circles anymore!" Eiji cheered as Fuji continued to tail the black service car, this time driving in a focused path.

"Huh, so he wanted to come to the tennis shop. So typical of Echizen." Momo sighed as they stopped half a block away from Sakuno's car, all of them intently watching it as Echizen left the car and tapped on the passenger window, taking off his hat in the meanwhile.

"Oh, look, he's revealing himself!" An squealed as Echizen leaned into the glass, looking through it.

"Come on, Echizen, just go in and kiss her already, you dumbfu - " Momo groaned as Echizen straightened and turned before walked into the shop, turning back and saying something before entering the shop.

"…Did O'Chibi say something?" Eiji asked, puzzled.

"99.99% chance it was 'Mada mada dane'," Inui muttered under his breath and the three people in the backseat groaned.

"Echizen is a prude, you know that?" An complained as she settled into the car seat.

"No, Echizen planned something, trust me. He wouldn't resist a chance to tease Sakuno-chan," Fuji said merrily as the others just stared at him in amazement.

"Really?" they all asked, Inui proceeding to scribble that down into his book.

"Just watch." Soon, enough, the car exploded with noise as something flew out the passenger window and hit the glass of the tennis store.

"Mou, Ryoma-kun!"

"See, I told you." Fuji said with a smile as he unbuckled his seat belt and opened the door. "Now let's see what that piece of paper was. I'm sure that's what caused Sakuno to get so mad."

"For all we know, it could just be a random piece of paper…hey, wait, why do you have a seat belt, sempai?" Momo asked as everyone else exited the car.

"Well, I _am_ the driver…" Fuji said, and smiled beatifically.

Momo glared before chucking his barf bag into the nearest garbage can.

"Hoi, hoi, I got the paper!" Eiji called from the shop; he had already bound there in excitement.

"Hm…What does it say?" Inui asked as they all crowded around Eiji, who was beginning to unfurl the ball in his hands.

"I hate you all, sempais."

"Oh, hello Echizen." Fuji turned and smiled at Echizen, who only grunted in reply.

"I should've suspected something when Oishi-sempai told me about that reunion thing at Taka-sempai's, especially since Kaidoh-sempai 'sent' me my ticket as a 'present'…of course you guys would pull something like this. Is anyone besides Buchou not involved?" he asked crossly.

"Oh, Tezuka knows, alright. He wanted to warn you, but…he was preoccupied." Fuji's smile grew larger. "I spiked his juice with Inui's special recipe, after all…he's in bed right now, but Oishi guarantees that he'll be fine by tomorrow for the reunion."

"Hn." Echizen sighed as he turned his back on his sempais. _No point of trying to take that note back if they already have it. Besides, it's not like it can make things any worse. Stupid sempais._

"Well, then, see you." Echizen raised a hand in farewell, not even looking back as he trudged along the sidewalk. Not that anyone cared at the moment, of course; they were too busy opening the note.

"…typical Echizen." Momo chuckled as he read the note along with everyone else.

**To whom it may concern,**

**I wish to file a complaint on one of your employees, Ryuzaki Sakuno. My complaints? She glanced at the rearview mirror too often, jeopardizing our safety; she got lost on our way to the destination; her hair's too long.**

**Sincerely,**

**Echizen Ryoma**

###

**Review please, writers rely on them for sustenance. Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, it's been a while, sorry, I was busy with school and stuff. I should probably try to finish the chapter for my other fic too, that's been held up even longer than this one. Anyways, it's time to continue abusing poor Echizen. Please try to ignore any grammatical errors, it will be edited as soon as possible...whenever my editor thinks that would be, anyways. Enjoy!**

###

Chapter 2

Ryoma cautiously peeked in from behind the door, his body pressed flat behind the sliding entrance.

_Good. He's not here._

Ryoma smoothly got out from his stakeout position and began to quickly head towards the stairs. _Hm, maybe I'll be able to lock the door to my room before my dad finds-_

Ryoma neatly hopped forward as a black blur suddenly flew out from the side and tried to tackle him into the floor.

"Oi, stay still, brat!"

Ryoma glared at the man getting up from his sprawled position on the floor. "And get assaulted by you? Not interested. Baka oyagi."

"Whatever, brat. How was it with the old woman's granddaughter?" Nanjiroh asks immediately. "Did you do anything…special?"

"You know perfectly well that all she did was drive me here. Nothing else happened." Ryoma said in a deadpan voice. "I bet you were involved in this whole thing too. I should've known you and the sempais meant trouble."

"Oh, Ryoma, you're home!" A girl with midnight black hair popped out of the kitchen door with a large smile on her face. "How are you?"

"Irritated." Ryoma continued to drone as his cousin's smile grew even wider.

"So I assume that Sakuno managed to pick you up?"

"Is everybody involved in this, Nanako?" Ryoma groaned in exasperation as he resisted his father's tugs to drag him into some corner for more interrogation. _I bet the conversation will lead to something about condoms pretty fast._

"Pretty much, brat. Even Mom got dragged into this." Another man who looked strikingly similar to Ryoma clambered down the stairs as he smirked at the miffed look on the younger look-alike's face. "We worked pretty damn hard to set all of this up without either of you catching wind of what we were trying to do, you know."

"That's pretty shoddy work." Ryoma said in his usual dead manner. Nanako giggled as Ryoga, Ryoma's look-alike and Nanjiroh both pretended to faint from a heart attack, their hands over their left torso as they staggered onto the floor.

"Oh, that's painful, little bro." Ryoga managed out while acting out his heart attack, his eyes rolling up and his mouth somewhat open while he fell backwards. Ryoma's father was already sprawled over the floor once again, drool falling down from his mouth.

"Oh, Ryoma's home?" A middle-aged woman came in from a side entrance to check the commotion that was happening, her mouth curved in a small amused smile.

"Rinko!" Nanjiroh pounced on her and began making loud sobbing noises into her shoulder. "Please, help me, our scoundrel of a son is being mean!"

Rinko just simply moved her shoulder away, causing her husband to drop face-first onto the floor. Nanjiroh started wailing again about how his wife was mean to him as Ryoma began climbing up the staircase, determined to leave the disaster.

"Ryoma, how was Sakuno?" Rinko asked airily while she pushed away Nanjiroh's face, which was trying to put a smooch on her. Nanako had went back to the kitchen while Ryoga was just laughing at Nanjiroh's repeatedly failed attempts to kiss his wife.

"She's fine." Ryoma said simply as he stopped on the staircase. His mother continued to look at him the way a little kid would when asking a question, and he caught on what she was trying to say. "Mom, why are you asking me that too? How could YOU be dragged up in all this?" With that he continued to power up the stairs.

Rinko made an attempt to answer, but she had only opened his mouth when a loud BANG could be heard, signifying Ryoma slamming his head into the door before opening it. Then a quieter click was heard as Ryoma closed the door behind him.

"Huh, well he hasn't changed at all." Ryoga whispered.

"It's alright, everything's going to plan." Nanjiroh hissed back. "We'll discuss the next step in the kitchen, come on."

While the two of them hurried off to the kitchen, Rinko followed behind, a pensive frown marring her otherwise pretty face. Nanako, who have returned to making dinner in the kitchen, noticed her expression immediately as the two males sat at the table and began whispering earnestly about their next course of action.

"What's wrong, Rinko-sama?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing…" Rinko continued to stare out unfocused as Ryoga pulled out a memo pad and began scribbling down something.

"Don't worry about nii-san, Rinko-sama, he's just a little upset that you were involved in this as well." Nanako said cheerfully as she waltzed around the kitchen, grabbing a couple of plates before setting them on the side and start chopping up vegetables with a knife. "After all, no matter what happened in the past, you were always one person he can count on not taking part in the schemes involving him. Now...well, he probably feels disturbed that he cannot rely on this certainty anymore."

Rinko looked even gloomier after that as she ran one hand through her hair in thought. "But…"

"Eh, troubling yourself over the brat is pointless. He's just in denial right now." Nanjiroh called out from the table. "He'll appreciate us for this later, no matter how much he tries to hide it. Besides, I bet he's plotting without our interference right now. That brat just wants to act cool by seeming indifferent."

"Even though he looks like a complete moron when he does do that." Ryoga decided to chime in from behind Nanjiroh.

"…I guess…" She looked unconvinced, however.

###

Ryoma stared up at the ceiling of his old room, cursing whatever god was up there that was making him suffer like this. It's not like he had any ideas about Sakuno…even if she was cute back in middle school. Ok, it's not like she's not cute now, it's just more of…wait, why was he thinking about that?

_Oyaji must finally be getting to me._

But still, it's not like he thought about Sakuno. Ok, maybe she crossed his mind every now and then…perhaps more often then even his cat, family, and sempais. But that doesn't mean anything.

A soft meow came from his bag, begging for the owner to open it. Echizen got up silently and crossed to his bag in the corner, opening the zipper and catching the snow-white cat that jumped into his arms.

"Hey, Snowball, this is Karupin's old home. You remember Karupin, right?" he said softly as he stroked the cat's fur. Snowball purred in response, suggesting that he did remember Ryoma's old cat. He probably did. After all, Karupin was the one who found him as a kitten abandoned in some corner of New York City. He raised Snowball during his last days before his…departure.

Ryoma reached into his bag again before pulling out a small urn, setting that on his desk. _Mom or Nanako must come to clean regularly, the desk doesn't have any traces of dust on it._

"Anyways, Snowball, we're going to have to bury Karupin's ashes somewhere here later. This was his old home, after all. He deserves to be buried here, don't you think?" A meow came in response as Echizen smiled somewhat wistfully. He laid back in his old bed yet again, Snowball resting on his chest.

_What's with everyone these days, though? All of them plotting against me…the sempais, oyaji, Nanako, Ryoga, even my mom…sigh…I can't believe her out of people would actually get caught up in this…_

This was the last thing Ryoma was able to remember before somebody was randomly shaking his arm.

"Wake up, nii-san, it's time for dinner~"

"**…hn? Oh, ok.**" Ryoma replied in fluent English

"There's no need to try and sound cool by speaking English, nii-san!" Nanako patronized as she began to somehow drag Ryoma by the arm halfway off the bed.

"**English? What English?**"

"See, there you go again." Nanako giggled as Ryoma fell to the floor with a thump. Ryoma groggily sat up from the floor, massaging the bump on his head. "Hn. I see." _Why is she still able to drag me out of bed as if it was a middle school morning when I'm now supposedly taller than her? Ugh._

"And don't think I won't hesitate to drag you out of bed like that again tomorrow morning, nii-san." Nanako wagged her finger at him as she paused at the edge of the door. "It's a good habit to wake up early in the morning, you know. And just because you're taller than me now doesn't mean I can't do it, either."

_No shit. You proved that just now._

Ryoma tried to climb back onto the bed, throwing the covers over himself with his back facing the door in defiance, but his cousin was onto him in a flash, dragging him right back to the ground, this time by the back of his shirt.

"Mada mada dane, nii-san." She giggled as Ryoma scowled at her upside down face from the floor, obviously not happy about how his catchphrase was just thrown back at him.

"Fine, I'm coming down." He grumbled as his cousin cheerfully skipped out the door. He idly considered getting onto the bed a third time, but his remaining shards of pride prevented him from putting himself in such a situation again. Besides, Nanako apparently just said that it was a Japanese dinner for once. Maybe he will come down for dinner.

###

Dinner was a quiet affair that night.

Too quiet.

Ryoma fidgeted slightly as he ate, his chopsticks going from his bowl to his mouth in an almost robotic fashion. Nanjiroh and Ryoga was huddled up on the side of a table, muttering incessantly while glancing at Ryoma from behind their own bowls. Sometimes they would both take a can of beer that was next to their bowl and chug it down before choking on it, but Ryoma wasn't fooled. That was their way of trying to disguise their own laughter. Besides, he didn't care about those activities. It was already obvious what they were scheming wouldn't benefit him in the slightest anyways.

But, still, their lack pestering mad it seem somewhat…empty. Ryoma fidgeted with his chopsticks slightly as he wondered why exactly it seemed so strange, this silence and uneventful period. Shouldn't he be glad that he finally got some peace and quiet for once, something that was quite rare in this household? He checked his mother, who was quietly eating almost the same way Ryoma was, and Nanako, who was cheerfully taking a bit from each dish and eating it with her rice.

Ryoma frowned a bit as he gulped down his last bit of rice before gently placing it on the table and excusing himself from the table.

"I'm going to go outside for a little jog, do you guys mind?"

Nobody answered. Ryoma took that as a yes and quickly exited the dining area. The peace was starting to creep him out.

###

"Sh! Stay quiet, will you?"

"But it's hard staying quiet, nya!"

"Fssssh…What am I doing here with you guys, anyways…"

"Can it, Viper."

"Viper" responded by flipping his middle finger at the accuser.

"What? Let's see you do that again."

Viper flipped the middle finger yet again, this time hissing, "See it now, blind bastard? Fsh"

"You're going down now, you motherfu-"

"Sh, O'Chibi's coming out!"

The three people squeezed together even tighter as they peeked out from behind a large hedge, peeking at the house across from them. Light flooded out from the door for a brief moment as someone in a grayish hoodie stepped out of it, his face obscured by the hood as he quietly shut the door behind him. The person was followed by three pairs of eyes as he jogged down the pathway and out the gates before turning onto the sidewalk, disappearing as he rounded a corner.

"So…" Voice #2 (second to speak here) breaks the silence while the three stared at the corner Ryoma turned ten seconds ago. "Where do you think he's going?"

"Fsh…what kind of stupid question is that? Follow them, of course!" Voice #3 snapped back.

"Oi, watch who you're calling stupid, Viper!" Voice #2 snapper back.

"Why, you are stupid…fsh…"

"You-"

"Be quiet, he'll hear us if we make this much noise while following him, nya!" Voice #1 hissed as he jumped out from behind the bush and crept to the wall near the corner, carefully peeking around it. "Hurry, he's almost a block ahead of us!"

"How the hell are we supposed to follow him around the streets, anyways? Echizen isn't stupid, he'll see us soon enough!" Voice #2 grumbled.

Voice #1 grinned as he shuffled around the insides of the backpack he was carrying with him. "Why, by using this, of course."

###

Ryoma came to an abrupt stop as he felt a chill run down his spine. He glanced around, his head barely twisting as his jade eyes darted around everywhere, his eyebrows furrowed in focus.

_Two kids playing around the sidewalk, one old man who looks like he's taking an evening stroll…he's way too short to be Oyaji in disguise…there's a group of ladies talking amongst themselves, shopping bags in their hands, and three cardboard boxes lying around next to the door of an apartment…wait, I don't remember seeing those cardboard boxes before…_

Ryoma turned and gave the boxes a meaningful glare. Seconds passed as Ryoma engaged in his silent staring match with a bunch of boxes. After while, he sighed before turning away from the boxes again. _I'm getting paranoid…it's not like my sempais are hiding under those boxes or something…_

He resumed jogging down the street, throwing the crazy notion out of his head. Strangely, not a single person Echizen saw on the street noticed when the three boxes suddenly grew legs and began scurrying after him.

###

"I can't believe this worked. In fact, I can't believe cardboard boxes could even fit in a backpack" Voice #2 groaned as he flung the box he was holding over his head away.

"Well, it worked in Metal Gear Solid, so I assumed it would work here!" Voice #1 replied cheerily as he disposed of his box as well.

"Fsh…what I can't believe is that nobody took a second glance at what seemed to be three boxes with legs sticking out walking around when we were following Echizen…" Voice #3 hissed out

"Oh, that's because nobody want to look at you, Viper." Voice #2 waved off dismissively. Voice #3 only raised his middle finger as a response.

"I do wonder where O'Chibi's going…" Voice #1 thought out loud, cutting off Voice #2's retort at Voice #3.

"To tell you the truth…" Voice #2 looked around the surroundings. Fluorescent lights glowed brightly above and around them as the floor was swept with tides of people, moving around in an unorganized manner like a mob of ants. Mannequins sporting clothes of every style imaginable were littered in the display behind every window. There was so much chatter that all the words blended into a kind of silence that nobody really notices.

"You know, I never expected Echizen to be the type to visit a shopping mall…"

###

Ryoma never regretted being an obsessive tennis freak. Yes, he knew he was an obsessive tennis freak. The only things he cared about were tennis, his family (which includes his cat), his sempais (though he'll never admit it) and his schoolwork. In that order of priority.

**Though something COULD be squeezing its way up that list…** a voice rang snidely in his head.

_Shut up._ Ryoma attempted to block out the voice in his head by trying to remember what he was thinking before that…_voice_ interrupted him.

**You were thinking about how that person could be-**

_I said SHUT UP. _Ryoma racked his brain, trying to remember what he was doing as he just stood there in the middle of the mall, people moving around him without caring how he was one of those few people who were just hanging around not doing anything. _They probably think I'm waiting for my girlfriend or something. If I had one._

**I know you want one, and who you want too…** Ryoma took no notice of the voice now as he finally remembered what he was here for. _Right, now where is the place where they sell all that jewelry?_

**What, you want to-**

Ryoma envisioned him delivering a ferocious Twist Serve into the voice as he started moving again. The voice it immediately stopped talking, causing Ryoma to smile in satisfaction.

"Hn…" He stopped by a large board displaying a map of all the locations in the mall. _I should've came here more often…yeah, that's what I was thinking when I went into that tennis obsession tangent and SOMETHING interrupted me._

**Are you talking about me? Since everything I was saying was true…**

_Twist Serve._

**…Yes Sir…**

_Anyways, it's time like these when I wish I didn't have such a tennis-obsessed life and visited this place more often, so I wouldn't be lost now…_

"Looking for something?"

Ryoma turned around at the voice, somewhat happy that he no longer had to examine that map. While he would never openly admit it, Ryoma was very confused and unsure about the whole map business. Again, his lack of common knowledge concerning everything except tennis, family, and friends came back to haunt him.

"Yes, please, I need some help looking for this…place."

A young man of perhaps around thirty scratched the back of his black mane of hair, his brown eyes twinkling behind his rectangular glasses as he answered, "Well, please tell me where you wish to go, and I'll see what I can do."

Ryoma bowed a bit before asking, "Well, I would like know where I could buy some jewelry."

The man's eyebrows went up. "Jewelry? Hm, that's interesting. Well, there's the general huge section of it at the fourth floor, in the northern part of the building. Of course, if you're looking for something a little more…personal, then you should go visit this small store that's on the second floor. Not too many people know about it, but its selection of jewelry is actually quite excellent, perhaps better than the stuff on the fourth floor, at least to me."

"Hn, I see. Well, thank you very much, sir." Ryoma bowed a bit again before jogging off to the nearest escalator, muttering, "Now, which floor was this again? I think it was the first…"

The man watched him run off before taking his wig off, revealing what was actually light brown hair. He took out the two contacts in his eyes before smiling and closing his eyes to slits. "You guys can come out now."

Voice #1, #2, and #3 all popped out from the back of the board. "Sempai! You really saved our hides there!" Voice #2 said in a shaking voice, trying not to imagine what would've happened if Ryoma found them hiding right under his nose. _Probably would've materialized a tennis racket and several balls before pelting us with it._ He shuddered at the thought.

"Well, I do have a vested interest in this affair myself, Momo, remember? Although I do wonder about your method of tracking him. It's a little disturbing to think that you, Eiji, and Kaidoh were stalking poor Echizen around with a bunch of cardboard boxes as cover." Fuji chuckled.

"Hey!" Eiji protested, waving a fist erratically and narrowly missing hitting a few people near them. "It worked!"

"Apparently so." Fuji noted fairly. "Now, the three of you better go follow him. I need to make a quick stop to the bathroom before I join you. Don't want Echizen to ask funny questions about the color of my eyebrows, after all."

"Wait, how would you know where we are?" Momo asked, puzzled.

"Well, if Ryoma is doing what I think he is…he's going to go to the store on the second floor." Fuji reasoned.

With that, he jogged off to the first floor bathroom, leaving the three people's somewhat amazed expression behind. He only looked back to say, "Now, Eiji, make sure Momo and Kaidoh don't kill each other while I'm gone, ok?"

"Fsh…I'm not killing anyone, it's that barbarian who causes all the trouble." Kaidoh muttered under his breath.

"What? At least I'm not a bastard!"

Fuji smiled as he heard Eiji trying desperately to quiet Momo and Kaidoh down and prevent too many stares from the other passing people in the mall. _Psychology school could be pretty useful. So many ways you can cause trouble with it…_

###

Ryoma looked at the sign on top before opening the small oak wood door and peeking inside. "…I think this is it…"

_"Of course, if you're looking for something a little more…personal, then you should go visit this small store that's on the second floor."_

Ryoma wasn't really one to take advice, but today, he'll make an exception. It's not like anyone would know. There's no sempais following him around today, after all.

At least, that's what he was fervently trying to convince himself as he entered the store.

###

The said sempais were actually watching his every move from behind an ornamental tree (Sorry, Echizen).

"Well, I guess Fuji-sempai was right…" Momo breathed out.

"Fsh…the fact that he's going for a psychology major is a disaster. Now he knows how to mess with our minds even better than before." Kaidoh groaned.

"Have to agree with you there, Viper." They both shuddered at the thought of their sadistical sempai and his nefarious plots.

Meanwhile, Eiji had long since left the hiding spot and was busy peeking through a small opening through the door, trying to see what's going on.

"Mou, I can't see or hear anything…" He pouted.

"Sempai, are you crazy?" Momo frantically gestured Eiji to get back, but the hyperactive redhead failed to see the order.

"Oh, shit, if Echizen opens the door and sees us here…" Momo hurtled out from behind the tree and quickly began to pull Eiji away from the door.

"Ne, Momo, I want to seeeeeeeeeee!" Eiji wailed as he tried to wrestle out of Momo's grip. Momo grunted as he began to slowly drag his sempai away from that door. Though he was considerably taller and stronger than Eiji, Momo had a tough time keeping the grip on his sempai as Eiji was flailing around unnecessarily.

Kaidoh watched the whole spectacle from behind the cover of the ornamental tree, not really inclined to do anything about it. _Well, logically speaking, if Echizen opens the door and finds the two of them there, then they're dead. But if he opens the door and finds me along with the two them, I'm also dead. But then again…_

Kaidoh's face paled as he considered a possibility that didn't occur to him before. _Knowing Echizen, he'll probably find out pretty fast that I'm hiding here, or even worse, that barbarian might give me away, I know he wouldn't give a qualm about it, and then…_

And that's when Eiji started getting dragged off by not one, but two people.

"Come on, Sempai, we gotta-" Momo looked up and saw a pair of green eyes glaring very menacingly back at him, as if it was attempting to say, _I am going to knock a Twist Serve up your ass so hard…_ "-go….."

###

Ryoma swore fate was out to get him today. This was way beyond what the sempais could possibly do. No, wait, that's not right. No, fate and the sempais, not to mention his baka oyaji, must be launching a huge conspiracy against him. Yeah, that must be the only explanation.

A vein pulsed faintly in his forehead as he stared at the spectacle in front of the door he just opened. Momo-sempai and Kaidoh-sempai were dragging Kikumaru-sempai back, and Ryoma could guess exactly they were dragging him away from. _Don't tell me they were actually spying on me…wait…_

Ryoma remembered his staring match with the cardboard boxes. _Three_ cardboard boxes. The vein in his forehead twitched again.

"So…hi, Echizen?" Momo grinned in attempt to act unknowing and failed miserably.

"What are you doing here, sempais?" Ryoma cut in, heading straight into the matter of this…situation. He was _not_ going to be waylaid from an answer.

"Um, we're hanging out in the…mall?" Eiji supplied in a hopeful voice.

Ryoma raised an eyebrow in mock confusion. "Is that so? I thought you guys would've been more of the type to hang out in the park or something, not somewhere like a shopping mall."

"What are YOU doing here, brat? Hs…" Kaidoh interjected in an attempt to save everyone. Well, mostly himself, but he'll have to save the others to if he wants to live.

"What do you think I'm here for? I bought some jewelry." Ryoma rolled his eyes. "I would think you would've been able to figure that out by the signs, sempais. Now stop avoiding my question and tell me why you guys are 'hanging out' in the mall."

"…Did you ever ask that question?" Momo gulped after saying that as he witnessed Ryoma's hand inch towards a broom which was strangely placed near the door of the store.

"Well, I'll ask it now, then. Why are you 'hanging out in the mall?" Ryoma growled.

"It's because I asked them to meet me here, Echizen."

Ryoma turned, startled, as Fuji slowly jogged up to them. "I must admit, though, I find it surprising that you're here, Echizen. How are you?"

_Well, I'm PISSED, 'cause I think you're all in on something._

"Hn, I'm good." He said out loud. _Or I will be good after I kick your ass._

"I see. Anyways, you want to hang around with us, Echizen? We're just here to play a few arcade games, for the sake of old times." Fuji went on.

"Hn?"

"Oh, while you were away, the team used to come here and play in the arcade as a form of a get together sometimes, 'cause, you know, not everyone was playing on the team in high school. I never knew Buchou would be so good in Dance Dance Revolution…it was so weird…" Momo said wistfully.

"Oh, yeah! He completely killed the 'champion' at it!" Eiji piped up.

Ryoma lifted an eyebrow up in nonchalance, but he was actually mildly amused. _Buchou, good at Dance Dance?_ Ryoma almost cracked up as he imagined Tezuka stepping on the pads in an almost robotic manner, his face in his typical frown while he was telling the other guy next to him "Don't let your guard down."_ I need to record that._

"To tell you the truth, everybody's already at the arcade, we're actually a bit late. So, Echizen, want to come?" Fuji continued on, a smile on his face as he watched the tennis prince consider it.

_Well, I am a bit interested. It would be funny to watch Buchou play Dance Dance Revolution. Besides, they were planning this without me, they can't possibly be trying to rope into something, right?_

"…fine. But can somebody lend me their phone? I have to call my family" Ryoma finally conceded.

"All right, Echizen!" Eiji and Momo proceeded to maul the boy, making him groan in irritation.

Fuji smiled even wider as he took out a simple silver colored flip phone and tossed it over to Echizen, who effortlessly caught it even though his two sempais were still strangling him. Kaidoh had kept to the side this whole time, just watching and seeing the scene unfold. By now, Ryoma has called his home, yelling over his sempais as he tried to explain his situation. As he watched, Kaidoh couldn't believe how far Fuji had thought ahead from this situation. _Not only did he manage to save our skins, he also worked out a plan that would be beneficial to our goal. Damn, don't tell me he's taking strategic classes too…_

"So, what about it?" Fuji asked as Ryoma hanged up.

"They're fine with it." _Though I'll have to go pay revenge to my baka oyaji for making…suggestions._

**But they're-**

_TWIST SERVE._

**Hah, as if you'll do that to yourself.**

_I'll ask Oyaji to play me._

**Damn.**

###

"Fuji-sempai, what took you so long?" Yelled a brunette as she stomped her feet on the marble floor in impatience. "We've all been waiting for you."

Ryoma groaned as he realized who it was that just said that. Apparently, Fuji had "forgotten" to mention those people who weren't on the old middle school team. _That's Tomoka, and the guy who looks like he's blabbing his head off is Horio, and those are Seigaku Ichinen trio…wait, if they're here, then that means…shit._

Ryoma realized just exactly what he got himself into as he caught the sight of a certain somebody he had met just earlier that day, her cinnamon brown hair donned in a familiar pair of braids.

_Damn, I can't believe I fell for it._

"Oh, I bumped into Eiji, Momo, and Kaidoh on my way here. Apparently, they just managed to finish their errand and decided to tag along to our get-together after all. Not to mention there was a certain someone with them." He stepped out of Ryoma's way then, leaving him without any more cover.

Silence went by for a few seconds as the group processed just exactly what Fuji just said and the appearance of the person behind him.

Then all hell broke loose.

###

**Well, you know the drill, Read, Review, and...prepare for the next chapter. :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey, guys, what's up? This is EnigmaMemory here, and I'll be taking over for IQ cause he's a fagg-**

_*Smash*_** Ow, what was that for?**

_IQ here, and I assume you've met my alter-ego Enigma. In case you're wondering, I changed my screename because-_

**The real mastermind behind all your stories was me!**

_*Kick* You wish. Anyways, as I was saying, I will now be publishing under my alter-ego's name because I'm obviously an idiot who can't keep a damn promise when it comes to uploads._

**Yeah, and you find your name embarrasing.**

_...And probably that, too. Anyways, here's Chapter 3, coming in more than a month late, I think. Special thanks to kawaii-witch181, who kindly pointed out how I made Fuji's hair BLOND for some reason, not to mention I got Tomoka's name wrong in Chapter 2. Hopefully those have been fixed, as well as any grammatical errors..._

**Say, did your editor even fix that chapter yet?**

_Good question. I have no idea. I'm she'll tell me soon enough though. Now say the disclaimer._

**Fine. Neither IQ nor I own any part of Prince of Tennis, though I would like to say that IQ's a faggot.**

Chapter 3

Ryoma would've considered running for it, but he doubted that stories about him fleeing with his tail in between his legs spreading among the senpais would've really helped the situation. Even if he did decide to run, some people just wouldn't give him the chance.

"Ryoma-saaaaaaaamaaaaaaaa! You're actually here!"

_…This is a nightmare. Just one super large nightmare. Just a nightmare, just a nightmare, just a…_

Ryoma's train of thought was interrupted when he was tackled by a girl with a pair of pigtails.

"Oh my god, you actually ARE here! I can't believe it!" squealed the…something hugging him.

_I can't believe it either, but I have my stupidity of actually trusting my senpais for that. Stupid Ryoma, stupid Ryoma, stupid Ryoma…_

"Oh, you can stop smothering him now, Tomoka, he looks like he's going to commit suicide any second." A lanky guy with brown hair called out as he watched the scene with a look of amusement.

_Hell yeah, suicide seems like a good option right now. Wait, did _Horio_ just say that? When was he ever capable of saying something intelligent?_

Tomoka scowled at the accuser as she released her stranglehold on Ryoma. "As if you would know anything, Horio." She rolled her eyes.

"Actually, he's right for once." Ryoma muttered under his breath as he rubbed his neck, trying to dull the pain there. _Well, that was painful, and I'm not staring at the ceiling of my room in the comfort of my bed, so it's not a nightmare. Dammit._ He began to edge away from Tomoka in hopes of just melting away into the background, though that proved futile three seconds later.

"Ryoma-sama, that's so mean. Why are you still as cold as ever?" Tomoka pouted.

"Why are _you_ still as noisy as ever?" Ryoma grumbled back tersely as he walked away from her and hopefully to a safer location with sane people. _Wait, no, I'm with my senpais and my old acquaintances from school, the meaning of sanity probably doesn't even compute right now._

"Well, see what I care!" He heard behind as he made his escape. "I can't believe why anyone would find an interest in you!"

_I prefer it if you don't ca- wait, what was that last part supposed to mean?_ Ryoma briefly considered turning back and forcibly interrogating Tomoka about what she just said, but decided that such a plan would very likely backfire. Instead, he decided to meander over to a vending machine, fingering out the coins in the pocket of his pants for the money to buy his only form of salvation: A can of Ponta.

"Ponta again?"

Ryoma nodded in a listless manner as he heard the voice behind him. "Why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering if you were still into that." Horio replied as the drink thundered down the vending machine, landing in the niche at the bottom. Ryoma pushed open the flap and reached for the can as he pondered over Horio's behavior.

"You're Horio, right?"

"Yeah. Surprise, isn't it?" Horio gave out a forced laugh. "If you want to confirm it, I can talk to you about my two year's worth of experience on being a total idiot."

Ryoma couldn't help but smirk at the sound of that. _Looks like seven year's worth of life really gave him something to think about._ "Hn, it might actually be informative for once."

"Perhaps." Horio slipped in a bill into the machine. "The story of how a clueless being became enlightened was always something worth talking about."

Another thud sounded as a can fell down into the niche. Horio retrieved his soda and popped the can open as Ryoma mulled over what he just heard.

_Well, then…I wonder since when did…hn._

"Anyways…" Ryoma drawn out as he decided to steer away from what might look like an emo attack, "What are you doing in college?"

"Well, I'm studying…" Ryoma sighed as the rest of Horio's words became incomprehensible muttering. He abruptly stopped in the middle of it as a thoughtful expression crossed his face "Say, I've noticed something. We haven't been disturbed by anything for the past five minutes…" Horio trailed off.

"…Damn senpais…"

###

Sakuno berated herself for the tenth time as she listened to her best friend rant about the unexpected arrival. _I should've seen this coming._

"…And that arrogant little sucker is still walking around with that stupid looking smirk on his face, and, and, and…ARG!" She leaned on a wall in a huff and looked at the chaotic crowd of shoppers walking to and fro past them.

"And you want to know what's the most frustrating? Why would ANYONE be INTERESTED in such an ARROGANT, COLD WALL?"

"Um, Tomoka-chan-"

Tomoka froze as she realized that she was getting strange looks from the passing people. "Oh, uh, it's just…angst. Yeah. Um, you can go back to whatever you were doing now…"

"Tomoka, you really should consider keeping your voice down, though." Sakuno whispered as they headed back towards the group. _Why did she drag me all the way over here to begin with anyways…?_

"But I can't, not about this. I mean, this is such an injustice. Even as I speak, I still think that pipsqueak actually looks cool whenever I see him, and I bet I'm not the only one, and…" She trailed off as she saw Sakuno pull off a facepalm that would've made Picard proud. "Oh, I don't mean you, you're special-"

"What I want to know is how you came to THAT conclusion of all things." Sakuno deadpanned, cutting right past Tomoka's remark.

"…You're serious, right?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." _Fine, maybe I do, but there's no way I would admit it._

Tomoka shook her head in exasperation. "And people say I'm hard to deal with..."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing…"

Sakuno rolled her eyes before giving her friend a pointed look. _You expect me to believe that? Now I feel stupid._

Unfortunately for her, Tomoka had already diverted her attention to something else and took absolutely no notice of her friend's skepticism. Instead, she busied herself with what she considered the most important task to consider at the moment: Rousing up the senpais.

"Come on, guys, what are we all still standing out here for? Let's go! Movemovemovemovemove…" Tomoka shouted as she began to march into the arcade.

"I want to see Buchou play Dance Dance again! Nya!" Eiji declared happily as he bounced off in her wake.

Fuji smiled as he started walking in as well, throwing out in a casual manner, "Hm, seems like a good day to watch Momo and Kaidoh square off in Tetris again…"

"That's right, Viper, I'm going to kick your ass so hard, you're going to end up in next Friday."

"Fsh…you wish, dumbass…"

"Excuse me, but did I hear what just came out of your mouth?"

As Momo and Kaidoh's trash talking faded into the distance, Oishi turned to Fuji (who mysteriously ended up behind the pair, watching the spectacle with an air of amusement, even though he was walking in ahead of them to begin with) with an exasperated look.

"You said that on purpose, didn't you, Fuji?"

"Mm…I can't say, Oishi…you'll have to interpret that by yourself." Fuji's grin only got wider as he finished. Oishi shook his head in misery.

"Let's say I don't want to and leave it at that."

"Wise choice, Oishi."

Eventually, Sakuno was the only one who was still standing at the entrance, pondering on the abrupt case of strange behavior from her friend. _Now that I think about it, I think she began to act a bit…shifty ever since I told her about Ryoma-kun being transported around my car without me knowing today._

She rolled her eyes again. _I think I can guess what she's doing. I probably shouldn't have told her about that. Actually, no, if I didn't, I probably would've been a mess right now. Stupid Echizen. It's his fault that this is-_

"Oi, Ryuzaki, it's time to move." A voice in front of her said.

"What?" Sakuno's head snapped back as Ryoma's head suddenly popped into her view. _Mou, where did he come from?_

Ryoma sighed. "Unless you want everyone to go back to staring at you, I suggest you go follow the senpais." He said slowly, barely disguising his annoyance over the situation. "Stupid loudmouth, this wouldn't have to happen if she didn't go around screaming like this mall was her house or something" He muttered as an afterthought.

Sakuno meekly peeked around Ryoma to try and grasp just exactly what he meant. She was greeted by the sight of a bunch of random shoppers watching Horio wave his arms around in a fashion suitable for a chicken. It seemed to her to be a desperate bid for their attention. However, Sakuno also noticed that some people, despite Horio's acting, were still stealing random glances at her every once in a while.

"So, you know, she's kinda like a boombox who was left on after a huge rock concert or something. That's why she, likes, I don't know, blows up every once in a while?" Horio started making incomprehensible hand gestures while Sakuno watched with a growing sense of embarrassment.

"...Were they staring at me the whole time because I was the only one left?"

"Brilliant, Holmes." Ryoma rolled his eyes.

Sakuno only squeaked as a response before she rushed through the entrance, leaving Ryoma to watch Horio continue to divert everybody's attention to himself. Horio, noticing that Sakuno had left the spectators' line of sight, began to wrap up his monologue.

"So, yeah, I'm really sorry about what just happened, and, uh, you guys can go back to whatever you were doing now! So, um, bye?" With that, he bowed deeply before dashing away to the safety of the arcade. The crowd stared at the arcade entrance for a few moments before they dispersed, returning to whatever they were doing before the spectacle.

Ryoma sighed as he stepped out from behind the vending machine's shadow, where he was previously trying desperately to act like a normal human being who wouldn't warrant any attention. Briefly wondering for a moment why he, out of all people, was destined to associate with what seemed to consist of only wackos, he shook his head before following Horio back into the nightmare.

_Buchou's performance in Dance Dance better be worth this…_

###

"The two of you've done a good job. I've managed to spread the word to everybody else thanks to your efforts."

"Well, of course I did a good job, what else would you have expected? This plan have better work, though. The tension has dragging on so long that I could classify it as 'mentally retarded'."

"Why am I even doing this, anyways…?"

"Because it's obvious that those two belong together."

"Really now? I seem to remember a totally different scenario…something involving you and a bunch of photographs of things I can't believe you would take pictures of."

"Stop whining before I DO carry out my threat."

"What the- I thought you promised not to do anything as long as I do my part in this – ok, fine, it's not ridiculous, but…whatever. Anyways, you promised not to-"

"That includes whining about it."

"I don't remember you saying that in our agreement, dammit!"

"It's not like you made me sign a contract or-"

"Alright, that's enough, you two. We're going to get unwanted attention if you guys descend into another shouting match again. Now, just blend in and mingle with the crowd. I'll handle the next stage myself."

"Right..."

"Sure, whatever. And you don't forget your side of the agreement."

"Just shut up before I – dammit, he's gone already. Dumbass."

"Don't hold his mannerism against him, his third year really shook him down to the core. It can take years before somebody fully recovers from a shock like that, and even then, the personality could still have concluded in a drastic shift."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Well, I'll go 'blend in' then."

"See you."

As she disappeared into the crowd, Fuji felt yet another evil smile spread onto his face. _Ah, yes, it's a good day for evil smiles. With so many plans going along seamlessly, how can I not be?_

###

Ryoma was feeling high-strung as he watched Momo and Kaidoh furiously mash buttons while they maneuvered their blocks on the screen. Mainly because nothing bad has happened yet. _You can say I'm jinxing myself, but I've been with my senpais so long that I know that I don't need to jinx myself for something bad to happen, so I might as well take the risk anyways._

"So, Ryoma, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine, Fuji-senpai." Ryoma twisted his head a bit to give his senpai a dead stare. "Where did your disguise go?"

"Disguise? What are you talking about, dear Echizen? I don't remember my profession of choice requiring any need for…disguises. You can ask Eiji about those, though, I'm sure he has plenty from acting practice."

"Hn." _I bet you asked him for one._

Ryoma returned his attention to Momo and Kaidoh's furious battle, frowning as he saw on both screens that neither of them seemed to be anywhere near losing. "Is this normal?"

"Hm, this? Well, how long have they been going?"

"15 minutes."

"Yeah, that's normal. They'll be just about done in another ten, though."

"Hn, I see. Is Buchou playing Dance Dance right now?"

"I'm not sure. Last time I checked, Eiji and Inui was still trying to drag him up to the platform. I'm sure he would be forced on eventually though, everybody there is going to rally him onto the stage once they realize who he is. He's became quite a well known figure ever since we dared him into playing Dance Dance in the first place."

"Was the penalty for not doing the dare involving Inui Juice?"

"Frankly, I can't remember…"

Ryoma noted the grin on his senpai's face. _Meaning that it was. Of course. _He rolled his eyes. _I feel a bit sorry for Buchou. Anybody would prefer Dance Dance to that monstrosity._

"Well, I'll go and check that out, then." Ryoma muttered as he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his hoodie, preparing to leave.

"Wait, Ryoma, before you go, I have to explain something to you."

"Yes, senpai?" _I've got a bad feeling about this._

"For the past several years, every time we gathered here, we would also play a game of Truth or Dare. Well, without the Truth part, but let's ignore that for now."

"Hn. Go on."

"It's pretty simple. One person gets to dare anybody to do anything related to this arcade that he or she want. After that person completes his or her dare, he or she gets to dare anyone except the person who dared him or her. We did put restrictions on what exactly is considered a suitable task for a dare, but I'm confident you wouldn't consider pulling something like that out of your head."

"…let me guess. Inui Juice if I refuse?"

"Of course!"

"That's great. So, I assume I should watch my back now, right?"

"Actually, I have a dare for you right now." Fuji smiled as he pulled out a red baton from his pockets and waved it in the air mockingly. "See this? This is proof that you're 'It'. As long as this baton is in your possession, everyone would know that you are allowed to give out dares to any person. It's just a form of identification, really, since it was a mess when we just trusted each other's word."

Ryoma resisted the urge to throw his hands up in the air in exasperation. "You were probably the one who caused the trouble to begin with anyways."

"I won't deny it."

*Sigh* "Well, tell me what to do so I can get it over with."

"Don't worry, since it's your first time, I'll give you something simple. Just go down to the 3D Demon Shoot-Off stage and challenge as many people as you can without losing. See, nothing horrifying, right?"

"Oh?" _Why do I sense a catch to this?_

"That's right, I forgot to mention that I will be tracking your progress, so don't try to lose on purpose, or else I'll have to ask Inui for a new…batch."

Ryoma shuddered as he saw a pair of square glasses blinking ominously with an evil grin under it flash before his eyes, before a giant cup of bubbling liquid rose up to take its place. "Ok, fine, I'll go do it."

"Good, Echizen. You can choose whenever you want to start. Although, the game ends once we have to go, which is around ten, so make sure to finish before then if you want to use up your dare."

"Hai, senpai." Echizen muttered as he walked away from Fuji, trying to decipher just exactly what his senpai was up to.

_Ah, whatever, I'll worry about it after I watch Buchou's performance. Let me see if my phone still has enough battery for a video..._

###

"Why is it that every time we come here, I must be dragged up that…_hellish_ contraption?"

"Oh, don't be like that, Bochou, you know you actually enjoy being up there!" Eiji said happily as he looked behind his shoulder at his former captain, who was being dragged along by the back of the collar like some rag doll.

"Besides, you DO need to uphold Seigaku's reputation, don't you, Tezuka? Or would you rather have them call us a bunch of cowards?" Inui grinned wickedly as he dogged alongside Tezuka, his glasses flashing ominously.

Tezuka brushed aside the dirty-blond bangs that fell over his eyes for the millionth time since Eiji began dragging him to the "hellish contraption" before giving Inui a dead stare. "Don't tell me you're actually going to take data over this…"

"Oh, don't worry, I've done so the last dozen or so times too. It's very quite interesting, how much information I can get from someone's Dance Dance sequence. I should really bring this up with the homicide department later."

Tezuka resisted the urge to snark back as he sighed and continued to allow Eiji to weave around the crowds towards the Dance Dance machine. "It's been seven years, and they still haven't made my life any easier for me. Maybe I should've stayed in Germany." He mumbled to himself before noticing the noise that suddenly seemed to gather around him.

"Is that him?"

"Looks like it. He's always being dragged along by some hyper redhead."

"He's back!"

"…" Tezuka closed his eyes in despair as the crowd around him suddenly erupted into noise.

"It's him! The legendary champion Kunimitsu Tezuka is ACTUALLY HERE!"

_It's either the tennis fans or the…_Dance Dance_ fans…why…?_

"And here comes your first challenger, Buchou!" Eiji cheered as a lanky young college-looking person came up to the former Seigaku while pointing up at the stage. "Good luck! Try not to lose!"

Tezuka sighed again. "Inui, go tell Fuji that I'm sending you, him and Eiji to run fifty laps around a city block after all this, and next time, just give me a disguise or something. Between your police disguises and Eiji's actor arsenal, surely there must be something that could avert this stupidity."

"Sure, Tezuka. Now enjoy yourself."

"I'm doing this for Seigaku. Nothing else. You understand?"

Inui chuckled as Tezuka got out of Eiji's grasp on his collar and mechanically began to walk up to the stage. "Perhaps you're just taking all this too seriously, Tezuka. I doubt the atmosphere of a Dance Dance contest is exactly the same as one you would experience in a tennis match, so why would you treat it as such?"

"Inui, one hundred laps." He heard over the din the audience was creating over the return of "the champion".

"…Damn."

###

"Oh, sorry, Echizen!"

Ryoma scowled a bit as he rubbed his shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Taka-senpai, I'm fine… Why rushing so much though?"

"Oh, well, since this place is usually packed with people, I make sure to take my time and do research every single time I come here. I have to keep the sushi business alive, you know?"

"Hn. Business is going well?"

"I guess you can say that…I'm a bit nervous, though, since a lot of people in the store has been passing around rumors that Dad is going to hand the business down to me soon. I don't think I'm ready for that."

Ryoma snorted. "No worries, we'll have a way for you to cope with that." _Like maybe giving you a racquet…_

"Really…" Taka's voice trailed off as he lost himself in his thoughts. Suddenly remembering what he was here to accomplish, he jerked himself awake again as Ryoma began to walk past him.

"Oh, wait, Echizen! You're a potential customer, too, so I'll like you to fill out this survey. It would really help in making the shop even better than it is now!"

Ryoma blinked in surprise as a piece of paper suddenly appeared in the clutches of his hand. He skimmed across it, trying to grasp just exactly what the survey was trying to accomplish. "Say, how many times have you guys changed the menu?"

"Oh, I forgot, you haven't been around for the past seven years…" Taka scratched his head sheepishly, embarrassed that he forgot such a prominent fact. "The menu changes aren't really a big deal though, all we did was add some new dishes as experimentation. The survey is supposed to determine whether or not the experiments were successful, and also to come up with future experimentation ideas. Everything that you knew of seven years ago should still be there."

"…I see."

"Anyways, you can try out the new stuff the next time you come to the restaurant. Come to think of it, we're probably going to host a party there for your return, since this arcade visit thing doesn't really count. So, I'll make sure to serve some of the new dishes then." Taka said happily as Ryoma groaned. _I thought today was going to be bad enough…now I learn I'll have to go for round two in a few days anyways._

"Oh, come on, don't be like that." Taka said as he noticed Ryoma's rather annoyed look. "Nothing bad is going to happen, right? Besides, I'm sure there's going to be a lot to talk about. I mean, it's been seven years, there must have been a bunch of things that happened to you, right?"

Ryoma grimaced as his eyes focused on some speck on the ground. "Yeah, I guess…" he muttered as he began to walk away.

Taka's grin faltered just a bit as the gears in his head turned furiously over this development. "…Right…?"

###

_…Maybe it wasn't such a great idea to take a vacation here._

Ryoma sighed as he weaved through the crowd, making sure to blend in with the crowd and keep his head down. The chance of someone recognizing him just by glancing at his face was simply not something Ryoma was willing to gamble with. That wasn't his concern right now, however.

"Of course, I should've seen it coming. What irony." He muttered to himself. His feet followed the same pace as the strangers around him, his eyes barely paying attention to his surroundings as his mind mulled over matters Ryoma believed he had left behind.

-Bump-

Ryoma shook his head a bit as he zoomed back into reality, his eyes in a daze as he spent his time figuring out exactly where he was. He looked down at the floor and saw, to his surprise, a boy sprawled on the floor. Quickly realizing that he himself was the culprit, Ryoma hastily grabbed one of the boy's hands and hauled him back onto his feet.

"Sorry about that." Ryoma mumbled. He began to turn away, but something on the boy's back caught his eye.

"You play tennis?" He gestured at the boy's racquet bag behind him.

"Yes, sir." The boy nodded slowly, his eyes glancing at the stranger in front of him skeptically. "Are you wondering what a kid is doing in an arcade with a tennis racquet?"

"Not until you mentioned it."

"Oh."

"Well, what are you here for, then?"

"I've heard that the legendary player Kunimitsu Tezuka-san would be visiting here today, so I came to do some investigating."

"How did you know he would come today? I didn't hear this from anybody else walking around here."

"My coach told me."

Ryoma raised an eyebrow. "Your coach?" _There's no way she can still be coaching…right?_

"Yeah, my coach was also the coach of that famous Seigaku team that defeated the long standing champions of that time, Rikkaidai, to win the Nationals. Tezuka-san was a part of that team, if I remember correctly."

"I see." Ryoma nodded before muttering under his breath, "The old hag must be crazy…"

"Did you say something?"

"No, nothing." Ryoma said smoothly, throwing off the boy's suspicion as if he had been doing that for a living. "So, I guess that means you're from Seigaku, huh?"

"Yep. Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering."

"In that case, I best be going now." The boy turned to leave.

"It's the Zone, isn't it?"

The boy stopped moving. "…Yes."

Ryoma smirked, "Well, in that case, I guess I should accompany you."

"…Sure…"

###

The boy took yet another glance at the hooded stranger standing next to him, observing the scene in front of him with a nonchalant air. He wondered for perhaps the fiftieth time why he agreed to allow the stranger to accompany him in the first place.

_This is so weird…who is this guy?_

"Oh, so that's how he does it. Amusing." the stranger chuckled.

_Guess he really does know what a Zone is._ The boy noted as he began to observe the stoic person just shuffling his feet around on the stage.

"Why do you want to observe the Zone, anyways?"

"Because," and the boy just left it at that. He heard the stranger sigh.

"Fine, how do you think the Zone works?"

"Dunno. Why do you think I'm observing it?"

"Hn" A moment of silence passed as they wordless watched the spectacle among the chaotic audience. "You do realize that all you can see from here is the footwork, right?"

"So? That could be important."

While the boy couldn't see the stranger's expression through the hood he was wearing, he was positive that the man was smirking under it. "That's true, the footwork is important. Good footwork makes returning shots easier, as you're not tripping over your feet or something."

The boy rolled his eyes. _Anybody could've figured that out, genius._

"More importantly, though, good footwork helps increase your range. A higher range means you have less effort to spend to get the ball to come to you." The stranger continues. "Unfortunately, the change in range is not particularly great, so while a higher range does make it a bit easier for the user, it does little to change the difficulty of performing a Zone."

The boy glanced at the stranger briefly before returning to his observations. _Wonder where he's going with this…_

"Maximum range of a human player for a proper Zone is probably only a bit over a meter and a half. Your own range, given your height," the hooded stranger gave the boy a quick one over before saying, "…is probably only a meter and a quarter. To cover the rest of the distance requires hits with incredible amounts of spin, as well as knowledge of where you opponent would hit the ball. It's not an easy move to do."

"…I don't really care about reproducing it." The boy said slowly.

"Ah, so that's your real intention. You want to beat it."

"…" The boy didn't answer, instead focusing all his attention onto Tezuka's rather strange performance on stage.

"I wonder if the person you want to beat is the same as that guy up there. Serious, unmoving like a rock, never knowing how to smile. I wonder if you noticed that his mouth hasn't even cracked a small curve while he's been up there. Then again, he probably isn't enjoying himself up there." The head in the hood shifted, giving the boy the impression that the stranger was smirking at him again.

"…How do you know that's what Tezuka-san's like that well, anyways?" The boy questioned skeptically.

"Well, let's just say that I was also a student at Seigaku when I was your age. At the very least I knew who he was by reputation." The stranger chuckled. "Anyways, if you want to figure out a way to defeat a Zone, I'm not going to help you. There's more than one way, and the solutions are far too simple for anyone to need help with them." He began to walk away after saying that.

"Wait! I…"

The man's hood turned back to face him. "Just remember that a Zone works because of tremendous spin and intuition of where the opponent would hit the ball. Work the rest out by yourself. You look like someone who can actually play, after all." The head inside the hood suddenly cocked itself to one side. "Say, what's your name?"

"…who are you?" The boy asked in reply.

"You tell me first."

"…Haruki. Haruki Sora."

"Hn. Good bye then, Haruki-san"

"Hey, wait, you didn't-"

The boy saw a cocky grin flash out from under the hood. "As for me…I think you can figure out my name if you try."

And as Sora watched, the stranger was swallowed up by the crowd. He shook his head wordlessly, wondering just who was this hooded person, what he meant, and if they would ever meet again.

_Well, I want to say no on the last part, but…ugh._

###

Safely among the audience of Tezuka's avid Dance Dance fans, Ryoma stopped to think about the strange encounter he had with the boy Haruki Sora. He smiled slightly as he thought about the serious look on the boy's face when he revealed his intentions.

_I don't really care about reproducing it._

"Hm…I wonder why I feel like I've seen this kind of situation before…" He said quietly to himself as the crowd erupted into a round of cheering. Looking back onto the stage, Ryoma saw his captain beginning a rather impressive display of quick yet smooth footwork all around the stage.

_Perhaps my troubles could wait. It's a vacation, after all._ Ryoma considered as he took out his phone. Deciding that the video wasn't really worth it, he stuck with the camera option and prepared to take a shot.

###

On the outside, Tezuka was just stoically cruising around on the floor, hitting each and every move with absolutely no mercy. On the inside, though, he was wondering just why did he put up with this embarrassment every single time without fail. He idly noticed a flash in the audience as he mulled over the question.

_Wait…a flash…_

Tezuka pressed his lips together into a line as he realized the significance behind it. He stopped moving as he heard the Game Over drone on his opponent's side of the floor, standing up straight and facing the audience as they began to cheer hysterically. He opened his mouth and called out over the din:

"Echizen, fifty laps."

And though there was a huge din amongst the crowd, he was satisfied to hear in the midst of it a bout of rather nasty swearing.

###

**Dude, that ending sucked.**

_Thank you, Enigma, I think I could've figured that out._

**The readers are going to flame you.**

_Ok... Anyways, I'm just going to ignore Enigma-_

**Why, you're a fag.**

_-and just continue on with the end notes. Hopefully, the name Haruki Sora would remain as the most screwed up Japanese name I could come up with, because I think I'm really bad at coming up with Japanese names. Also, while I am mostly positive that I got all that info about a Zone correct, please notify me if you believe there's some wrong information. Finally, review if you have any suggestions about the writing so I can improve upon it and maybe get the motivation to upload again before winter break ends and I get swamped over with work once again._

**Make sure to tell IQ he's a fag, too. Thanks.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Enigma: So, you finally got something done.**

**IQ: ...**

**Enigma: I was pretty aware that you promised an update... 4 months ago... maybe more...**

**IQ: ...**

**Enigma: Oi, are you alive?**

**IQ: -walks back into his room, shuts the door-**

**Enigma: ...Well then. Screw him. Anyways, we do not own PoT. Enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 4<p>

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's me. How is it going?"

"Well, I have yet to find something that could secure me certain cooperation. I don't think he's caught on to our plans though, so this lack of progress is not too big of a problem at the moment."

"What exactly are you looking for?"

"Mm, that's a trade secret."

"You and your flair for dramatics. The hell. Are you sure we're in the all clear? That guy is impossible to read, he always has a cold face on. "

"He's always like that. Besides, his face is nothing compared to his old captain's stone face. Just trust me. Ryoma Echizen will not be a problem."

###

"Say, what was it I have to do again? I think I forgot…"

Ryoma groaned. In his enthusiasm to take a picture of his buchou playing Dance Dance, he completely forgot the dare that Fuji had laid out for him.

_I could just not play the game, but if I do that, the chances are high that Fuji would do something very nasty to me in return._ Ryoma shuddered at the thought and quickly discarded that idea. Perhaps, if he just walks around for a bit, he'll be able to find his senpai somewhere and ask him exactly what he had to do again.

_…And now I'm lost._

Ryoma palmed his face lightly as he looked around. It seemed that walking around aimlessly only served to drag him into an unknown area, full of loud bangs and rattles in the background. He sighed as he contemplated asking for help. Ryoma never liked talking to people, and that tendency was only brought to a new height when he became a pro tennis player. But if he's going to get anywhere in this blasted arcade, he's going to ask someone and hope everything would blow over safely.

Ryoma walked over to what seemed to be an employee behind a counter, putting the gray hood over his head as he did. It wasn't exactly a great disguise, nothing like what Fuji-senpai had thrown together recently, but Ryoma hoped it would be enough.

"Oh, hello there. How may I help you?" The lady smiled as he stopped in front of her.

"I'll like to know exactly where I am," he mumbled, keeping his hood over his head and hiding his face in the hood's shadow. The lighting in this area was poor, which pleased Ryoma. After all, it's much easier to hide in the shadows.

"This is the prize retrieval counter. To your left are the general arcade games, and to your right are the shooting games,"

"Shooting games…" Ryoma repeated, rolling the phrase in his mouth.

"Yes, it just so happened that the shooting games are packed right now because the champion at Demon Shoot-Off showed up today. It's a rare occurrence, so challengers are all flocking around for a chance…"

_Just go down to the 3D Demon Shoot-Off stage and challenge as many people as you can without losing. See, nothing horrifying, right?_

Fuji's words floated around in Ryoma's head, striking with the same sense of foreboding that he felt when he heard his senpai's words in person. Exactly what was Fuji-senpai playing to? Was this part of his plans?

Ryoma decided he could worry about such thoughts later. First he had to get away before his cover gets blown.

"Hn. Thanks," he mumbled to the cashier. She nodded with a small smile as he turned to leave.

"I suggest you keep that hood on and stay with the shooting games. There might be a lot of people, but the lighting is even worse over there, so nobody should be able to figure out who you are anyways."

"Hn." So much for the disguise working well. "I see."

"Good luck in your next match, Echizen-san." She waved him goodbye as he walked off.

"Thanks," he mumbled again, pulling his hood even farther over his head. Hopefully that will help him stay hidden a bit longer. However, with his luck, he doubted it.

###

Ryoma considered his next move as he walked through the arcade stands, his ears filled with the sounds of machine gun chatter and high-pitched whistles from laser blasts.

It couldn't possibly be as simple as Fuji-senpai made it out to be. Ryoma doubted that the arrival of the champion today and Fuji's challenge was a coincidence. He also had a suspicion that something stupid might happen as soon as he picked up the plastic toy rifle. On the other hand, it's not like he has much of a choice. Fuji-senpai made it clear that consequences would occur if Ryoma does not show motivation to complete his objective in this "game."

_He's supposed to be keeping an eye on me, anyways._ Ryoma rolled his eyes as he reached inside his pants pockets, looking for some spare change he brought along. Then he remembered that the arcade used game tokens, not real change.

"…Crap,"

He stuffed his hands into his hoodie, ready to stalk back to the counter to ask that lady where he could buy tokens. However, Ryoma was whacked in the head by something before he could even take a step.

He rolled his eyes again as he spotted the culprit. "Thanks, senpai,"

The roll of tokens stared back at Ryoma innocently as he picked them up. His senpai obviously decided Ryoma needed some help. Either that, or he just wanted to see Ryoma get started as soon as possible. That didn't help Ryoma feel any better about what he was about to do.

He slid two tokens into the machine and picked up the light gun as the screen flared into life. While this wasn't the game that he was supposed to play, Ryoma was pretty sure that most, if not all of the games here, followed the same basic design, so it couldn't hurt to start off by playing some random game first.

Ryoma had never played in an arcade game in his life. In fact, the only time he played video games was when his baka brother Ryoga dragged him into the living room to have "bonding time" and play on his Playstation 3. Ryoma failed to see the entertainment his brother got out of it, though that may have been because Ryoga took no mercy to mow down his brother's avatar with bullets every two minutes or so.

Despite the fact that his brother enjoyed using him as a constant source of cannon fodder, that didn't mean Ryoma was necessarily bad at… what did that idiot brother call it again? Battlefield 3? In any case, Ryoma felt that he was at the very least decent. Arcade games shouldn't be too different, so he should be fine.

He pulled down on the trigger, the gun shuddering in his hands as he rained virtual death over the mechs and robots on the screen. Thanks to his natural dynamic vision, Ryoma could easily keep track of the "movements" of the robots, and had no trouble hitting every one of them. He shifted his head to the side slightly as a click was heard, and he realized that he forgot infinite ammunition was not a given feature. He slid the pump on the gun down, wondering if that's how he was supposed to reload. He was right.

Two shots. The mech crumpled to the floor. His face was devoid of any sort of emotion, any sense of exhilaration or anxiety. He was a machine in itself, just delivering rapid, accurate snipes at anything that moves.

"Hm… not too shabby,"

Ryoma only spared a quick glance at the source before returning his full attention on killing robots. "Yes, Fuji-senpai?"

"Oh, I'm just commentating on your skill in these games. Didn't know you were this good," Fuji shrugged, his smile as always plastered over his face. Ryoma had a bad feeling about where this conversation might be heading.

"So…anything else?" Ryoma mumbled as he blasted a robot's chest into smithereens, putting it out of commission for eternity.

"Oh, I was just going to bring your attention back to what you're supposed to be doing, in case you forgot. Demon Shoot-Off is the only place to have head-on 'battles' with other people here, so you'll know when you see it."

"…I assume you won't help me by telling me any of the rules, right?"

"Nope, I'm sure you can figure that out by yourself, Echizen," Fuji shook his head, amused, as he turned his back on Ryoma. "I'll still be watching you, but don't let that prevent you from enjoying yourself. That's what these get-togethers are about, after all."

"…Enjoy myself…" _My ass._

Ryoma stared at the screen for a few seconds before rolling his eyes and setting the gun back into its holster, allowing his character to be assaulted by a mob of moving bolts and gears. He might as well get this whole ordeal over with.

He never noticed the screen asking him to enter his initials in. Then again, he never knew such a thing called "high scores" even existed. That didn't mean other people didn't notice.

"Hey, who's that kid?"

"You mean the one in the hoodie? Oh, woah. Did he do that?"

"I've never seen this kid before. Maybe he's from some other place?"

"I dunno, maybe. But either way, that's not a bad score,"

"Nah, that score is ridiculous. He quit halfway and he still managed to squeeze into the top twenty,"

"But not that many people play this game in the first place,"

"…Well…maybe we'll see exactly how good he is if we just…follow him a bit?"

"What? Isn't that stalking?"

"Um…it's just for our curiosity, right? It's not like we're going to try and rape him or something…"

"…Oh, fine. But let me enter in a name for that score first."

He went to the machine and thought for a bit before entering the three initials and nodding in satisfaction at his choice. The other man came up to him, somewhat confused at his colleague's choice.

"TMH?"

"The Mysterious Hoodie,"

"…that's freaking lame, but whatever."

"Hey, you make the name next time. Now let's go, he's going to be out of our sight at this rate."

###

"Alright, Fuji, exactly why are we all gathered here again?"

Oishi groaned as he looked around the rather packed corner everyone was holed up in. Did Fuji even understand that this was as strange as it could get? Who would plan a meet-up in a place as crowded as the shooting games section, anyways?

"Let's just say I think what we're about to see is going to be worth our time," Fuji chuckled softly, though Oishi felt it sounded more like an evil cackle.

"Hm…there's a 98% chance that Echizen is involved in this…" Inui muttered, madly scribbling across his book.

"Only 98%? Inui-Senpai, you're kidding, right? This has to be about the twerp! I mean," Momo waved his arms around wildly, smacking people around him as he tried to emphasize his point. "What ELSE could possibly bring such a devious smile on that person's face?" He pointed a finger at Fuji, who, true to Momo's word, had a devious smile on his face.

"The other 2% could be that we are heading into a trap, and the variations of said traps are what I am trying to calculate right now based on previous data… unfortunately, Fuji remains unpredictable to me, even to this day, but one has to try."

"Kya! Don't be such a spoilsport, Inui, it has to be about O'Chibi," Eiji's eyes lit up at a certain thought. "Oi, Fuji, is this going to be like what we did this afternoon?"

"I cannot say,"

"Oh, god…" Oishi had heard from the snippets between his friends about the whole incident involving Ryoma's return to Japan. If another event of that nature was about to pan out… well, let's just say that he was glad he wasn't part of the first incident.

"Tezuka-san, do you really think this is worth…" Oishi's words trailed off into space as he saw the former Seigaku captain muttering under his breath, his hands twitching furiously, his eyes completely hidden behind the glare of his glasses. It looked like Dance Dance put quite a strain on Tezuka. In fact, that would certainly explain his presence here. He'll do anything to get off the stage.

"Um, it feels a bit cramped in here…"

Taka smiled nervously as he tried to inch his way into a more comfortable position, a difficult feat seeing how they were all crowded around a dark corner. Fuji, being the sadist that he was, subtly palmed a tennis racquet that he kept with him solely for occasions such as these into Taka's hands as Taka moved slowly towards him.

"I'm pumped for this! **GREEEAA-**" Taka's shouts were drowned out by the sirens wailing across the room. The racquet fell out of Taka's hands as he winced a bit from the noise, surprised that something was so loud that it overtook his "spirit." Everyone turned to watch a person walk away from an arcade machine dejectedly as the wailing above him slowly came to a halt.

"Hm, the champ's on a good run today," Fuji noted, the only one who seemed unaffected by the noise. He casually picked up the racquet left on the floor and stuffed it in the duffel bag that he was carrying, amused at his friends' expressions.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Momo scratched his head in confusion.

"Demon Shoot-Off, an arcade game that's been relatively popular in Japan for some time. The multiplayer feature, while not a new development, is what causes people to keep coming back," Inui reeled out. "It's been critically acclaimed to have very solid-"

"Who cares about that!? What I want to know is what the hell is up with that siren! It's louder than Taka, dammit," Momo grumbled, his eyes continuously flicking back towards the source of the siren, the machine's screen flashing at him in an almost taunting manner.

"Oh, just a running tradition. See, every arcade with this game eventually found a 'champion,' otherwise known as a person that's hard to beat," Fuji explained. "Now, every machine where the champ plays will be accompanied with a siren, so everyone would be alerted of the outcome. Not that it really matters here; this champion lasted for the last two years…"

"Don't tell me you told Echizen to go square off with the champion," Oishi shook his head in confusion. What was Fuji trying to do? Oishi didn't know, but he didn't put it past Fuji to do something too...extreme.

"Well, actually, I didn't. But knowing him, he's going to end up doing it anyways. He won't get anything out of it besides an injured pride, though."

Oishi couldn't shake off the feeling that something was up, that there was something that Fuji wasn't telling him. Not that there's anything he could really do about it, but Oishi felt that he had a responsibility to at the very least salvage any sanity that might remain amongst his friends.

"Really, Oishi, don't worry. I don't put people under any sort of trauma or danger…unless I deem it necessary," Fuji frowned a bit as he threw the last part in, but his face immediately reverted back to its cheerful expression as he tried to assure Oishi. "It's not necessary now, by the way."

"I'll take your word for it, not that I have much of a choice," Oishi sighed. It looks like he's officially resigned himself to sit back and watch the show.

###

Kaidoh took another drink out of the bottle of water that he bought as he continued watching the commotion in the corner. He wondered how they managed to last so long without drawing unwanted attention. Surely the people in this arcade would think the congregation in the corner qualified as a commotion of some sort… right?

Then again, he wasn't going to complain. The less attention everybody draws in, the better, especially himself. Kaidoh saw absolutely no point in having to get involved in any sort of trouble.

That would certainly explain why he was a good distance away from the crowd, leaning on the side of an arcade machine and taking drinks out of a water bottle. Nothing like the "I'm not involved because I 'obviously' don't know who they are," argument to keep questions at bay.

That was the plan, in any case. Which Kaidoh realized was about to shatter thanks to his one mistake: He didn't keep track of everyone.

"Hey, look, it's Kaidoh-senpai!"

Kaidoh gritted his teeth as he heard the voices of his younger peers. His dreams to stay uninvolved were gone now, riding along the waves of sound coming from two very particular, loud kouhais of his.

He could tell it was only going to go downhill from here.

###

Pull the left trigger. Let go, pull the right. Left, right, right. Aim both of them towards the left, keep firing with both hands. Stop with the left, reload. Jam the gun into the stand, push the slide back. Still fire the right. Switch, reload the right. Keep shooting. Don't stop.

Nothing fazed him. He was a cold-blooded killer, obliterating everything in his sight. Everything before him turned into a blood mess of pixels. It didn't matter what kind of creature it was, whether it flew or crawled or walked on legs. There was no escaping its eventual fate: Splattered, bloody, and very dead.

At least, that's what it seemed like to the people watching a certain person sporting a gray hoodie demolish wave after wave of monsters – as well as the hopes of challengers facing him.

"Geez, who is this kid…"

"Never seen him around here before…"

"But, he's pretty damn good. Maybe he has a shot against the champ?"

Ryoma could hear the mumbling around him perfectly well. To be frank, it was surprisingly loud. He had to admit he found it strange that people would consider what he was doing to be so amazing. He played tennis all his life, and yet he felt that this game was fundamentally simpler than the rules of tennis.

_Whoever shoots down more monsters wins, so all I have to do…_

The clatter of gunfire didn't cease until the "Time's UP!" sign flashed across both player's screen. Ryoma lowered his two pistols slowly, taking deep breaths in and out as he saw the results flash before his eyes.

_Is keep shooting until the game's over._

Final score: 134 – 102.

"…This kid's incredible!"

Ryoma shook his head. He didn't understand what was so amazing about what he's doing. The mumbling around him was not needed. In fact, all these people crowded around him were not needed. Why were they there? He was doing nothing more than fulfilling a duty, what could possibly be so entertaining?

A young man squeezed his way through the mass of people, the stubble on his chin being the only thing that kept him from looking like a naughty boy about to report his wrongdoings to his mother. Ryoma had a feeling that whatever this man was going to say, it wasn't going to be good, not that there's much he could do about it.

"Hey, are you, um, interested in challenging the champion, by any chance?"

"…Hn?" Ryoma cocked his head sideways slightly, unsure exactly what this stranger meant.

A silence lapsed over the crowd. Such ignorance of their renowned (and for some, revered) champion was unexpected. It didn't take long before the muttering around Ryoma resumed, this time louder and more urgent than ever.

"What? How does this kid do so well if he doesn't even know that a champion exists, let alone who our champion is?"

"I say he's faking it, trying to get the opposition to underestimate him."

"Or maybe he's just a natural. It wouldn't be the first time…"

The poor messenger, fidgeting under the rapidly murderous presence that seemed to be radiating from Ryoma, mustered up the courage to speak again. "Um, well… these two guys came by a little while ago, babbling about this 'ridiculously OP' hoodie, which I can safely assume is you. Anyways, the champ expressed interest in your skill, so it's up to you if you want to take on the challenge offered to you. Of course, if you don't want to…"

"…"

Ryoma had no idea what "ridiculously OP" meant, but it felt like something his senpais would come up with. _It would make sense if Fuji-senpai got some of the other senpais to help him. I know just the two that would've said something like this._ Momo and Eiji's mischievous grins passed through his mind, and he made a mental reminder to make his two senpais suffer as much as he can manage later.

However, his predicament came first. Ryoma was sure that this confrontation with the "champion" or whoever this person was called was the final objective behind his task. Well, if it would mean everything was over after this was done, then so be it.

He's game.

###

Horio couldn't help but think every now and then about how lucky he was. After all, despite the passing of time, his stupidity, and all the obstacles thrown in everyone's way, he was still around to see everyone be together, to still be together with the friends that he came to appreciate. He found it surprising that someone that was as arrogant as he was back in the day managed to know such nice people. Even more surprising was the fact that they didn't leave him, even at his darkest hour.

"Horio! Stop dazing off! You're going to miss the show!"

Horio winced as he was snapped out of his self-mediation, shaking his head as he tried to get the voice bouncing around in his head to stop. He rolled his eyes as he turned his eyes up to the screen, thinking that even if he changed, some people didn't. The fact that such things comforted him made him slightly worried about his sanity, but he had managed to ignore such worries for a long time now.

The loudmouth Tomoka was one good example of a constant that he had known throughout his life. She was still brash, direct, and a fan of the now professional prince, as she proved when she yelled into his ear. Speaking of which, that prince didn't really change either.

Horio wasn't surprised in the slightest that Ryoma took up the challenge. Since when did the great tennis prodigy of Seigaku ever back down from anything? Surely he wasn't going to stop now just because a few years had passed. It's just too bad Horio already knew how this was going to end.

"Pssssh…. Is there any point of watching this? We all know that he's going to get slaughtered," Kaidoh hissed behind him. Horio had to admit that his senpai was right.

"Oi, Viper, don't say that so quickly. It's not over until it's over," Momo grumbled. Due to Horio and his friend's mobbing of Kaidoh's privacy, the rest of the senpais quickly found the Viper's hiding spot and reeled him into the chaos.

"Of course such idiocy is coming from the monkey over there," Kaidoh muttered. For once, Momo didn't hear him, too intent on focusing on the action that was about to unfold.

Horio never played this game before since he was too busy…well, chilling, to put it mildly. However, he had watched a few games before, so he knew how the game worked. The players act as "bounty hunters" who, in the interest of their paychecks, try to kill more demons than their competition. Horio could not see how this game function made such a splash if it had already been explored and exploited countless times, but Demon Shoot-Off was extremely popular in any case. Maybe it had something to do with the "champion" tradition.

"There's a 100% chance that Echizen will not be happy once this game is over," Horio heard Inui mutter behind him. He rolled his eyes at his senpai's words. It's not like he needed any more confirmation on that.

###

It took Ryoma fifteen seconds to figure out that he was out of his league.

He went into this situation certain that he was able to at least put up a decent fight even if he lost. Five seconds into the game, Ryoma thought he was doing well. It was the usual sweep through the virtual horde, nothing seemed to be any different compared to before. That's when things started to go downhill.

Ryoma was taking aim, firing, and killing, but for some strange reason, it didn't seem like he was getting the points for it. He furrowed his eyebrows slightly, puzzled why his kill count wasn't going up anymore.

Nine seconds in. He raised his pistols up and reloaded them, wondering if he should say something about this strange occurrence. Except when he looked back at the screen, he realized that the horde of pixels he was shooting at only seconds ago were still being blown away despite the fact he wasn't doing anything.

He blinked once, twice.

Twelve seconds.

His eyes widened as a new possibility came to him: Maybe it wasn't the system, it was his opponent. The champion was stealing his kills.

Ryoma growled softly, annoyed at this turn of events. He should've known something like this was coming. Of course someone deemed a champion would be different from the others that he faced. Chances are he wasn't supposed to win in the first place. He should just throw in the towel and save everyone some time and effort.

At least, that's what he should do if he was a considerate person. Ryoma Echizen, however, was not what someone called a considerate person, especially in competition. Besides, he wasn't going to give up on something only mere seconds after he started. Whatever consequences that may follow could be damned.

Fourteen seconds in now. Well, even if this opponent was different from all the rest, that doesn't mean Ryoma should make it easy. The more time he would waste, the farther he was going to trail behind.

Ryoma began to fire on a different pack of creatures, showing that he knew exactly what his opponent was trying to pull.

_Not that it'll stop him._

Ryoma smiled wryly as, true to his word, his kills were snatched from under his nose again. This was going to be troublesome.

###

If Eiji bothered to go around on the streets in one of his disguises and asked random pedestrians who "Kikumaru Eiji" was, there would be several different types of responses. Some people would be absolutely clueless, which was understandable. Many would say that he was a rising star in the movie industry. Then there were the fangirls. In any case, few would say that Kikumaru Eiji was an aspiring video game programmer. He attended college classes in his free time, in disguise of course. He had done a rather good job at keeping attention away from himself, despite his peers' doubts. Unfortunately, he was still forced to uphold several different aliases to throw off some people, namely over-curious fellow students and observant professors. Once he did get his degree and a job, though, he was going to end all this cloak and dagger nonsense and reveal his dream by announcing his retirement as an actor. That was the plan, anyways.

Part of his prospective career required him to have a good knowledge of games, which generally meant he had to play them. Eiji didn't actually have much free time seeing that he had to juggle his role as an actor as well as keep up with college. In fact, despite his seemingly endless reservoirs of energy, it was straining for him to survive off an average four hours of sleep a day. Thankfully he had brushed up enough information involving video games in junior high and high school. He still fondly remembered that day where he came to Seigaku with red eyes because he spent the whole night playing video games. Then again, it was only notable because everyone else had red eyes that day, not to mention that O'Chibi was…well, that story could come another time.

In any case, Eiji was competent in video games, to say the very least. He was trying to make a living out of them, so might as well be good at playing them as well. He's seen the champion of this game in action before, thanks to Fuji, so he knew how good that monster is. Theoretically, O'Chibi shouldn't stand even a ghost of a chance. Too bad theories didn't ever seem to apply to the ace of Seigaku.

"Oh, not bad," he whistled softly, his eyes keeping a close watch on the screen. "O'Chibi catches on quick,"

"Didn't expect you of all people to say that, Eiji," Fuji chuckled.

"Hey, most people would've been at least slightly freaked if they realized that they weren't getting their kills. It takes a little bit of time to notice. Besides, he handled the attack pretty nicely, if you ask me,"

"Playing a game of cat and mouse isn't really going to cut it though,"

"Well, he needs some time to think,"

"True," Fuji shrugged, more concerned about trying to slip Taku the racquet again instead of listening to Eiji's thoughts on Ryoma's performance.

"Hey, maybe we should give Ryoma a break," Oishi held Fuji's wrist in place as he talked. "Taku might slip his name, and I think the hood isn't there for show. If he wants privacy, let him have it."

"…Sa, I guess you're right. Shame though," Fuji reluctantly put the racquet away again. "Perhaps another day."

"I can collect more data on Echizen as well…it's a good day," Inui muttered behind them, scribbling over his notebook. "Hm, 78% that Echizen starts shooting towards the upper left portion of the screen…Ii data,"

"Come on, let's just focus on watching O'Chibi play," Eiji's said, his face serious for once as he watched with his arms crossed the scene in front of him.

"Eiji, I don't think most of us get what's going on, so explain it to us, won't you?" Taka scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Well, the situation right now is O'Chibi is getting harassed by his opponent. While it's difficult to steal kills from under a player's nose, especially with the how the light gun works and everything, the champ actually manages to do that really well and that's going to cost O'Chibi a lot. His current solution is to just aim randomly at various parts of the screen, which does work to some extent, but again, he's limited by the technology of the light-"

"Hey, Eiji, slow down, I think Taka's getting even more confused. Frankly, I don't really understand what you're saying either," Oishi requested, cutting into Eiji's narration.

"Sorry, can't help you, it's hard to do that with fast games. Kinda like how it's hard for you to not be interested in older women-"

"Wait, WHAT," Oishi's cheeks flushed. "I, uh…where did you get that from?"

"Eiji and I spent a majority of a day just following you. With a woman," Fuji threw out nonchalantly.

"…That was my professor-"

"Oh, so it IS an older woman! I see! Hoy, hoy!" Eiji jumped up and clung onto Oishi's head, making the mother hen of Seigaku groan in complaint. "So, what's she like?"

"You guys are ridiculous," Oishi grumbled, ignoring their questions entirely. Sometimes he wondered if his friends were bad for his health.

###

Ryoma was getting annoyed. There was a little less than a minute left, and he still couldn't think of any solution outside of constantly aiming at different places. He could barely keep up the way he was now.

He growled as a he sent a skeleton crow to its funeral. Ryoma was getting sick of running away from the "fight," if that's what he could call it. Ryoma wondered if the person he was playing might actually be Fuji-senpai. He wouldn't be surprised if it was.

The machine for this game just so happened to be bump right into a wall, making it impossible for him to check if his guess is right. He idly presumed that his opponent must be in some room on the other side of the wall, since all the other machines for this game were connected back to back.

Thinking about his opponent only got him more annoyed. Ryoma was sure that, whoever this adversary was, there's probably a huge smirk on his face.

Ryoma didn't like that.

"Screw this. Let's see if this bastard likes the taste of his medicine,"

He wasn't sure exactly how he was going to go about doing this, but if he wanted to stop running, he was going to have to pick it up on the fly. Ryoma slowed his mashing on the trigger, taking his time instead to figure out exactly what his opponent was doing.

It wasn't difficult with his dynamic vision to be able to see the path his opponent was taking, a trail of blood colored pixels as the white-eyed devils fell to virtual bullets. Without much thought, Ryoma started firing the gun in his dominant left hand, aiming at monsters around the ones that were killed by his opponents just a split second before. His right hand, instead of helping, ended up drifting towards some other portion of the screen. Ryoma thought for a bit and decided that one hand was enough for the job – using the other to distract the opponent isn't too bad of an idea.

Thirty seconds left. Ryoma's new plan seemed to be working out pretty well. He kept an eye out on the kill count, pleased that it was no longer trailing farther and farther behind his opponent. In fact, he was starting to shorten the lead. Turning his full attention back to the screen, he realized he didn't know where his opponent was firing anymore.

Twenty-five seconds in. He reloaded his pistols, looking for the telltale sign of some monster dying. None did.

Ryoma had no trouble putting two and two together. This has happened before, only the roles have switched. He knew that his opponent has caught on to him.

_It's ok, time's almost up anyway. I'll just wing it._

Ryoma hefted both pistols towards the screen and started firing wildly, hitting creatures all over the screen. He didn't even bother checking what other trick his opponent might have up his sleeve. All that mattered was to click on the trigger until it refused to make noise, then shoving the gun against the stand, reloading it.

Fifteen seconds in.

He spared a look at the numbers at the side. His death count was still creeping up on the opponent's. It seemed that his adversary has decided to leave Ryoma to his devices and stopped stealing his kills. That was fine by him.

Ten seconds in.

Ryoma had no clue if he was going to catch up, but he knew for sure that he wasn't going to stop trying until it was all said and done with. It wasn't even about Fuji's commands anymore; he had thrown his pride on the line.

Five seconds.

Ryoma reloaded his guns for what he knew would be last time, ready for one last barrage that would decide victory or defeat.

Four seconds.

His eyes widened as, even before he started firing, the monsters on the screen were massacred at an incredible speed.

Three seconds.

Huffing in annoyance, he mashed the trigger, trying to reach targets before they were taken from under his nose.

Two seconds.

It was an impressive sight; the monsters littering the screen were suddenly all gone, the game nowhere near fast enough to replace them.

One second.

Ryoma's pistols clicked empty and he knew that there was nothing more he could do. He looked at the corner of the screen one last time, rolling his eyes as he gave the results a brief glance.

'Time's UP!"

###

Normally, going to the mall was a typical thing. People came and went. Some of them actually bought the merchandise littered all over the place, but humans in society seemed to prefer "window shopping." All in all, it was just a general outing where one could have fun with others…or even themselves.

For the people who were passing by the entrance to the arcade during ten PM on a certain day, however, that wasn't the case. Heads were turned, questions were raised. All eyes were on the ragtag group of people filing out of the entrance, like security cameras all observing an intruder. Truth to be told, those people were intruders, intruding on the mundane procedure that most people expected coming into this mall.

In the lead was a young man of average height, his face shadowed by the bangs and the hood over his head. It seemed that he was trying his very best to get out of there without attracting any attention, but wasn't getting anywhere. Most of the people behind him seemed less concerned about going anywhere, as they were chatting idly, or screaming at the top of their lungs (this only applied to a few select people). As the group drew nearer, the bystanders realized that this person of "average height" was actually tall, and he just happened to be dwarfed by some of the people around him.

One such person was poking the back of the leader's head. No reaction came from him, or at least that's what it looked like to the people watching. Nobody could see the fists that were clenched inside the pockets of the hoodie he was wearing, or the near-murderous look he had in the eyes that nobody could see. A redhead, hopping around like some hyperactive cartoon rabbit, was helping the giant with…whatever they were trying to accomplish. The noise they were creating was quite loud, although nobody could hear exactly what was said because of the general hubbub that was common for a mall.

That was before he snapped.

"What do you WANT from me, senpais?"

Silence. The whole place stopped for a second. Everyone gave their attention to the explosion of sound coming from the entrance. Even the two "senpais" stopped their antics, though only for a little moment.

"Geez, so touchy, Echizen. I think you're still affected by your performance back there," The giant taunted, his thumb pointing to the arcade entrance.

"So O'Chibi can be a sore loser sometimes…that's cute, nya~" The redhead continued as he started trying to put the victim into a headlock.

"…What are you talking about…I am not a…MMPH!"

"It's ok~"

"Yeah, at least your girlfriend wasn't around to-YEOW!"

The giant quickly pulled his index finger away from "Echizen's" forehead, rubbing it with his other hand tenderly. Echizen glared from behind the redhead's arm, his eyes now visible through his ruffled hair and lack of a hood. It seemed that Echizen managed to get out of the redhead's grasp to bite the giant's finger.

"Hey, Kikumaru-senpai, you got to keep a better hold on this brat," the giant complained while nursing the bitten index finger.

"I'm sorry, but there's not much I can do when O'Chibi is being cute, nyah~"

Echizen managed to worm out of Kikumaru's grasp at this point. The murderous aura he was giving off made even the passersby shutter slightly. Strangely enough, only the people watching from afar were bothered in any sense. Everyone in this group seemed unaffected.

"Oh, Echizen, I didn't know you were so sensitive about such matters. Oh, wait, it's you we're talking about," The giant shook his head sardonically.

"Ah, stop, Momo, Echizen's just in a state of denial. It's perfectly normal," a new person spoke. Between the light brown hair, the half-shut eyelids, and the serene smile on his face, one would normally think that this person would have no ill intention.

Which meant, given this group, this person definitely had ill intentions in mind.

"Saa, Echizen, let up a bit. Being embarrassed is a common matter. Unless you want to talk about it…I do plan on getting a license to discuss such matters,"

"Fuji-senpai… how about no," Echizen replied curtly. "Oh, by the way, I was slightly amused at how quickly you ushered us out. Does it have something to do with this?"

He took a red baton out of a pocket and waved it in front of Fuji's face, only to be rewarded with a wider grin. "Perhaps,"

"…So what am I supposed to do with this now?"

"You take it home and keep it somewhere safe. They will try to steal it from you, and you should keep the baton for leverage," Another person deadpanned behind Echizen. The narrow spectacles he wore failed to match with the eagle-eye gaze he had. The blond hair didn't help matters.

Some people began coming up to him with scraps of paper, store receipts, and some other, more dubious writing material. The bespectacled man only blinked once in acknowledgment before he took out a pen and began signing these items.

"Don't let your guard down," he said as he signed the items.

"Ah, it's not that bad, we won't break into…" Fuji turned his eyes back to Echizen, only to realize he wasn't there anymore.

"I was talking to you, Fuji."

"Saa, I see…"

"**OH YEAH BABY!**"

Everyone winced at the large bang that erupted. The next thing they saw was a person dropping a tennis racket in front of a demolished plant ornament, appalled at what he apparently had done.

###

"…Taka, I don't think that's exactly what he meant…"

"Well…Oishi, do you see any cops?"

"Yeah. Don't worry about it, I'll stay and get you out of this. They're probably going to check if you're drunk or something, and then you'll probably have to go through some long procedure which will ultimately lead to you having to cover the costs for that plant…no big deal," Oishi started fidgeting nervously, not really believing in his own words.

"It looks like we won't be going home anytime soon…hss," Kaidoh grumbled. Sure enough, several members of security had arrived by then, and were questioning everyone in the group extensively, as well as some bystanders. They had a bit of trouble with Tezuka, however, as he was still preoccupied giving out autographs to the avid fans that were unfazed by the commotion.

"Well, it's a good thing that we don't have any courses tomorrow, right?" Katsuo mumbled as he watched the commotion unfold with his peers.

"Meh. We get some less sleep, but yeah, it could be worse," Horio shrugged.

"You didn't happen to have any prior experience in this, right?" Kachiro joked.

"Nope, can't help you with that. Maybe you should ask Osakada, I'm sure she might know something…"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Tomoka yelled. Katsuo and Kachiro flinched, still unused to the volume of noise this girl could produce. Horio, however, seemed undisturbed.

"You tell me. Say, where did Sakuno go?"

"Oh, her?" Tomoka sighed dreamily. "She went to chase her dreams. Duh~"

"Oh…" Her three peers all said at once.

"Hm, what's this? Dang, the brat's so lucky, I should smack him for his oblivious manner," Momo complained as he popped up behind them.

"We got to follow them!" Eiji bounced up and down happily.

"Um, senpais, we're stuck here, remember? Besides, shouldn't Eiji-senpai be more worried about what might happen if this hits the media? Some bad stuff might come out of it."

"Oh, yeah…" Eiji frowned slightly, but brightened up soon afterwards. "That's ok! I'm prepared for such situations!"

He dug into his pockets before taking out an ID card, proudly displaying it to the others.

"…Is that a fake ID card?" Kachiro ventured.

"Yep! My manager suggested I get one just in case. Hopefully they won't check for my ID, but in case they do…"

"Um, Kikumaru-senpai, say they check the records for this ID. What are you going to do then?" Horio asked dubiously.

"Well…I do have my real ID on me too,"

"Eiji-senpai, what kind of manager do you even have?" Momo grumbled.

"Um… a really paranoid one?" Eiji smiled nervously, his eyes darting to and fro.

"Hm…so much data…today is a good day," Inui chuckled as he peered at the ID card from over Momo's shoulder, giving everyone a nasty shock.

"Hey! Where did you come from," Momo yelped. "What are you doing behind me?"

"Collecting data," Inui closed his notebook before slipping it back into his pocket. "In any case, I should go talk to the security. There's a 78% chance that they'll let us go after I talk with them."

"…Inui-senpai, why couldn't you do this earlier?"

"I was collecting data, Momo."

Momo buried his face into his hands and cried as Inui walked off.

###

Ryoma smiled slightly as he strolled out of the mall. _Thanks, Taka-senpai._

The smile disappeared as he realized that Taka's actions may have put him into a case with the law. He shook his head, reassuring himself once more that Taka would be fine. He would check back on the situation tomorrow and do whatever he could to help then, assuming it was still a problem of course.

"Echizen,"

He stopped. Apparently his escape wasn't quite as flawless as he thought.

A sharp tug on his ear made him stumble backwards a bit. He grabbed the person's wrist on impulse, but he let go as he realized who it was.

"Hn. Ryuzaki. What do you want?"

"I want to know why you made Taka-san do that," she demanded, her hand still tugging the top of Ryoma's right ear.

"…I didn't – ow – I just told him to make some noise,"

"But don't you remember that he tends to do some…_irrational_ things while he's holding a tennis racket? You know how he is,"

"I didn't give him Fuji's racket until he asked for it…"

"And you just GAVE it to him?" She tugged at his ear again, ignoring Ryoma's complaints.

"Hey, have more faith in us," Ryoma winced as she only tugged harder, his head bobbling slightly towards her hand. "You would think we know what we're doing,"

"Boys," She muttered, finally letting go of Ryoma's poor ear. He massaged it slightly, mumbling something about "being just like that old hag."

Sakuno's phone beeped, interrupting their thoughts. Ryoma continued to mumble incoherently as she pulled it out of her jacket pocket and quickly read the message.

"Look at what you've done. If it wasn't for Inui-senpai, it would've taken everyone forever to get home. Poor Taka-senpai was also charged to pay for the plant,"

"Yeah, about that…" Ryoma shrugged. "I guess you should tell them that I'll take care of the costs. Actually, don't tell them, I don't know if Taka-senpai would let me,"

While Sakuno tried her best to continue looking angry, she couldn't help but feel a bit pleased at Ryoma's response. It was rare instances like this where the prince would actually show some sort of morality, but that's all she needed.

"Ryuzaki, why are we still standing here? We should get going now."

And then he goes off and shatters her expectations like that. Sakuno puffed out her cheeks, ready to give out another fierce lecture.

She was well aware that Ryoma probably couldn't care less about what she said, but frankly, she didn't care about what he thought at the moment anyways.

"Aren't you going to wait for everyone? You can't just ditch them like that! How mean can you – Hey, wait! What are you doing?"

Sakuno stumbled as she struggled to match the pace that Ryoma set off in, the sleeve of her jacket in his grasp. Apparently he decided it was best not to argue and took direct action instead. It definitely seemed to be working.

"Get your hand off…mmph!"

"Sorry, Ryuzaki, I can't do that. You won't get moving otherwise," he mumbled.

"Ryoma-kun!" She wailed as she was dragged off down the streets. People stopped to stare at the sight, but could only spare a hearty chuckle as Ryoma, despite the struggles of his victim, slowly but surely hauled her away.

* * *

><p><strong>From the desk of the author:<strong>

**Hey guys... sorry about the massive wait, a lot has happened... I will not deny that procrastination played its part.**

**Some research had to be done to rehash out some really awkward phrasing involving the arcade machines. It looked really stupid before this version.**

**...It probably still looks stupid. .**

**I hope I've learned to try some new things while I've been MIA. I've tried to eliminate phrases that were unnecessary, but I have no clue how successful I am in that venture. The grammar I'm sure is still atrocious though.**

**According to my super-special-awesome editor/beta reader, I still can't write female characters either. :/**

**I don't think I wrote anything that was actually funny in any sort this time around. I'm sorry for that.**

**In any case, if you'll like to see that I'm actually trying to make headwind while you wait, or you just want to see how I'm suffering, feel free to check my profile for updates. I'll try to update once every week on how the writing is going.**

**Thank you very much for reading, and I hope you will stick around (or continue to stick around) for future updates.**

**- IQ/Enigma**


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